Johnson: “Our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end”
At his daily shutdown press conference at the Capitol, Johnson welcomed the Senate’s action, and said the end of the funding lapse is in sight.
“It’s after 40 days of wandering in the wilderness and making the American people suffer needlessly, some Senate Democrats finally have stepped forward to end the pain. It appears to us this morning that our long national nightmare is finally coming to an end, and we’re grateful for that,” Johnson said.
He added: “At least some Democrats now finally appear ready to do what Republicans and President Trump and millions of hardworking American people have been asking them to do for weeks. As we said from the beginning, the people’s government cannot be held hostage to further anyone’s political agenda.”
“We stood up to President Trump for 40 days,” Shaheen says
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, one of the Democrats who voted to advance the measure on Sunday night, told “CBS Mornings” that “keeping the government shut down for another week or another month doesn’t indicate that there would be any change in the outcome.” Shaheen was one of the main Democratic negotiators in the talks that produced the deal.
“We stood up to President Trump for 40 days, and let’s remember why we’re in this position: It’s because President Trump and Republicans in the Senate and House refused to fund health care to keep costs affordable,” Shaheen said.
Shaheen cited the federal employees who have been going without paychecks, as well as SNAP recipients whose benefits had been in question, as reasons for her support of the proposal.
While the eight Democrats who voted for the deal have been criticized by others in their party — as has Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for allowing it happen — Shaheen insisted that those critical should instead be focused on Mr. Trump and Republicans.
“The fact is, what this agreement is going to do is it’s going to force Speaker Johnson to bring the House back in. He’s been out since the beginning of September,” Shaheen said.
Here are the 8 Democrats who voted to move forward on the funding bill
The final vote on advancing the House-passed continuing resolution was 60 to 40.
Eight Democrats joined all but one Republican to move forward on the bill:
- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
- Dick Durbin of Illinois
- John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
- Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire
- Tim Kaine of Virginia
- Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats
- Jacky Rosen of Nevada
- Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to vote against advancing the measure.
House leaders tell members to be prepared to vote this week
House members were notified late Sunday that votes related to government funding are expected in the lower chamber this week, pending final passage of the funding measure in the Senate.
The whip notice said members will be given 36 hours’ notice of a vote.
The House last voted on Sept. 19.
Senate advances funding bill in breakthrough toward ending shutdown
The Senate voted to advance a House-passed measure to fund the government late Sunday evening, marking a key breakthrough in the stalemate and paving the way to reopen the government later this week.
In a 60 to 40 vote, eight Democrats joined Republicans to advance the House-passed measure, which had fallen short on 14 previous votes.
Senate GOP leaders are expected to move to amend the legislation to attach a package of full-year appropriations bills as part of a deal to end the shutdown, along with an extension of the temporary funding measure to keep the government funded through January.
The vote marks the start of what could be a lengthy series of procedural votes in the Senate, since any one senator can slow the process down. Once through the Senate, the House would also have to approve the legislation before it could receive the president’s signature.
