Senate approves bill to reopen government, sends measure to House

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday approved legislation to reopen the federal government, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The measure now heads to the House of Representatives, which could vote as early as Wednesday.

Eight members of the Democratic caucus joined the Republicans to approve the bill by a 60-40 margin and end a six-week stalemate. One Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed it.

The Senate proposal would keep the government open until Jan. 30, 2026.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill, which would restore programs like federal food aid and would pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

“We’ll be opening up our country very quickly,” Trump said, adding that the package was “very good.”

The measure ensures that any federal workers laid off during the shutdown would be rehired. It also blocked future reductions in force, known as RIFs, at least through the next deadline in January.

Democrats had demanded that Republicans negotiate health care tax credits that expire on Jan. 1, but that never happened.

Earlier Monday, several moderate Democrats voted in a procedural move to back the bill and end the gridlock that had kept the government shut down since Oct. 1.

The compromise included a promise to bring health care subsidies to a vote in the Senate. It was unclear, however, whether House Speaker Mike Johnson would bring up the measure in the lower chamber of Congress.

On Monday, Johnson said House Republicans had always been open to voting to reform what he called the “unaffordable care act.”

“It appears our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end,” said Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, voted to approve the bill. He was joined by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.

New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine also voted with Republicans.

All other Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, voted against it.

The Democrats who crossed the aisle said they did so because millions of Americans were suffering from the closure.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said that what he and other moderates needed from the GOP to end the impasse was a “moratorium on mischief.”

“We had no path forward on health care because the Republicans said, ‘We will not talk about health care with the government shut down,’” Kaine said. “And we had SNAP beneficiaries and those relying on other important services who were losing benefits because of the shutdown.”

“We had reached a point where I think a number of us believed that the shutdown had been very effective in raising the concern about health care,” Shaheen said. She added that a promised future vote “gives us an opportunity to continue to address that going forward.”

Schumer said he could not “in good faith” support the measure.

“We will not give up the fight,” he said.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, called the compromise a “horrific mistake.”

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