House Poised to End Historic Shutdown Over Democrats’ Objections

US House lawmakers return to Washington on Wednesday for a vote to end the 43-day government shutdown, which has snarled air travel, delayed food aid to millions of Americans and forced federal workers to go without pay.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes the legislation, a hard-fought compromise forged in the Senate and blessed by President Donald Trump, will pass quickly. But he’ll have to keep his fractious party in line in the face of stiff opposition from House Democrats whose leaders are urging them to vote against the legislation.

The problems caused by the shutdown, the longest in US history, have worsened in recent days, adding urgency to efforts to find a political resolution.

House Speaker Mike Johnson

Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Tuesday there would be “massively more disruption as we come into the weekend if the government doesn’t open.”

“It is going to radically slow down, so the House has to do its work,” he said at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

It could still take days for air travel to return to normal and probably longer for most of the 42 million low-income Americans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to receive delayed benefits. Lengthy backlogs and delays are likely across the federal government as it reopens.

On Monday, eight moderate Senate Democrats voted with Republicans on a compromise plan that would reopen the federal government through January 30 and fund some agencies through the end of September of next year.

Trump, who must sign the legislation after House passage, played a hands-off role in the negotiations, refusing to meet with Democrats and traveling frequently during the shutdown. His endorsement of the agreement, however, will help Johnson get Republican backing despite lingering reservations about some aspects of it.

Representative Andy Harris, who leads the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, has offered his support, a signal that others on the party’s right flank may fall in line.

A flight information board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Tuesday

Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg

The legislation would reinstate federal workers fired during the shutdown, guarantee back pay for furloughed employees and prevent further layoffs through the end of January, essentially softening the cudgel Trump wielded while the government was closed.

The measure notably excludes an extension of the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits at the heart of Democrats’ shutdown demands. While Senate Majority John Thune has promised a vote on the politically popular subsidies in the coming weeks, their survival past Dec. 31 is far from certain.

Democratic leaders, buoyed by state election victories in New Jersey and Virginia, had dug in on their demands of an extension to those subsidies and many in the party remain critical of the centrist senators’ deal to reopen the government.

Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, criticized members of her party on MSNBC for backing the measure to reopen the government, saying Congress lacks a “backbone.” Thune’s promise for a future vote on renewing the Obamacare health insurance credits “doesn’t mean much to me,” said Mills, who is running for Senate.

Yet the moderates saw the future Senate vote — coupled with the legislation’s protections for the federal workforce and full-year spending for food aid — as a path to reopening the government.

With the shutdown nearly at an end, Congress must now race against the clock to clear a legislative backlog that includes measures to fund most of the rest of the government through the end of the fiscal year in September and other must-past annual bills, including defense policy legislation.

Before the House brings up the Senate-passed legislation, Johnson is expected to swear in Adelita Grijalva, who was elected to replace her late father, Raul Grijalva, in September. The speaker’s refusal to swear her in during the shutdown has incensed Democrats.

Grijalva is expected to be the 218th signature needed to force a House vote on releasing files related to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

(Updates with Maine governor comments, in 13th paragraph.)

--With assistance from Miranda Davis.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Caitlin Reilly in Washington at creilly106@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

Mike Dorning, John Harney

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