Senate breaks Democratic filibuster in key vote toward reopening the government

What we're covering

• Senate moves forward: The Senate has voted 60-40 on a key step toward reopening the government. The vote came after a critical group of eight Senate Democratic centrists reached a deal with Senate GOP leaders and the White House to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care subsidies.

• What happens next? There is more to come before the government can reopen. Any one senator can delay consideration of the package for several days, plus the House will have to return and adopt the deal struck in the Senate before it gets sent to President Donald Trump’s desk.

• Compounding impacts: The shutdown’s effects are being felt across the country. Ahead of the vote, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he believed air travel would be “reduced to a trickle” ahead of Thanksgiving. And the Department of Agriculture ordered states to stop issuing full food stamp benefits after a Supreme Court move.

Senate majority leader hopes to pass bill to reopen government early this week

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks with reporters as he walks into a Senate Republican Conference meeting at the US Capitol, on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it “remains to be seen” when the Senate will be able to vote on final passage on a measure to reopen the government, though he hopes it passes early this week.

The Senate has adjourned until 11 a.m. Monday, and Thune made clear he would like to pass the measure tomorrow and send to the House for a vote right away.

“We had a good vote tonight. We’ll hopefully get an opportunity to set up the next votes. And, of course, that’s going to take some cooperation and consent,” he said, speaking to the fact that any one senator from either party could drag out the procedural clock for days if they choose.

He said Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who voted against the measure, wants a vote on an amendment related to hemp grown in his state. He said he didn’t know whether that would be possible.

Three conservative senators — Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — held back their votes until voting was nearly over as they engaged in deep conversations on the floor with Thune and other senior Republicans. Thune said they were discussing the “overall budget process around here” and preventing government shutdowns.

Thune was asked how confident he is that the funding bill will pass soon.

“We’ll see how motivated people are tomorrow,” he said.

Two senators who voted with Republicans on funding plan divided over whether the shutdown was worth it

Angus King and Tim Kaine are seen during a press conference following a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on Sunday.

Two senators who voted with Republicans to advance a compromise funding deal were divided Sunday over whether the government shutdown was worth it.

Sen. Angus King of Maine, who had voted with Republicans in over a dozen previous bids to fund the government, told CNN’s Manu Raju they failed to achieve their desired result.

“I never thought that shutting down the government … was leverage against the Republicans, and that was proven to be the case. But I think everybody, everybody felt we had to do something, and the only tool at the time was the shutdown,” the independent senator said. “The question now is, what do you do now? And it’s been proven that it didn’t achieve the desired result.”

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia contended to Raju the shutdown was worth it for federal employees who feared being laid off by the Trump administration.

“To federal employees who are not going to be traumatized by RIFs going forward? Yeah,” he told Raju, referring to reduction-in-force orders.

The compromise deal would reinstate federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown and would block the Trump administration from carrying out similar mass firings through January.

“I had a lot of Capitol Police officers look me in the eye when I was coming in tonight for the vote and say, ‘Thanks,’” Kaine said, adding that federal employees “can live through the holidays without worrying that they’re going to get a bad email at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning telling them they’re laid off.”

While Kaine conceded that Democrats still need to find a fix for Americans on health care, he said the deal at least advanced full-year appropriations bills for critical government operations at “robust” funding levels.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Sen. Angus King represents Maine.

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