Senate Democrats emerged from a two-and-a-half-hour caucus meeting Sunday night announcing they would have enough votes in the Senate to reopen the federal government after a brutal 40-day shutdown.
A group of centrist Democrats is led by Senators Angus King (Maine), an independent Democrat, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) negotiated the deal to reopen the government with Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and the Senate GOP leadership.
Collins led negotiations on a minibus appropriations package for military construction, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the Legislative Branch, as well as a continuing resolution to fund the government through January 30.
Shaheen, a member of the Appropriations Committee, worked with Collins on the funding bill.
King and Hassan were instrumental in getting Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to promise to hold a vote this year on extending health insurance subsidies enhanced under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is set to expire at the end of the year.
King told reporters after the Democratic caucus meeting that there would be votes to pass the agreement through the Senate and that Democrats who are supporting the legislation feel the shutdown has gone on long enough.
Asked if he was confident there would be enough votes to pass the bill, King told reporters: “It certainly looks that way.”
The Senate will resume session at 8 p.m. Sunday and is expected to vote Sunday evening to end the shutdown.
King said the “shutdown period” convinced Democrats to support the agreement, many elements of which had been on the negotiating table for weeks.
He said it has become clear that Republicans are not going to agree to a deal to reopen the government and extend enhanced health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which is set to expire in January.
King says there’s still a “chance” that the subsidies will be renewed as part of a deal Thune has promised to get Democrats to vote on ACA subsidies in November.
“Part of the deal is a vote on ACA subsidies,” he said.
He said he and other members of the Democratic caucus want the shutdown to end in the next few days because “a lot of people are hurting.”
The bill still needs to be passed by the House, which has not been voted on since September 19. After this it will have to go to President Trump’s desk for signature.
However, several Democrats emerged from the meeting who pledged to oppose the deal, including Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
“A wink and a gesture to deal with this health care crisis later — without any real guarantees — is not enough for me or the Wisconsin families I work for,” Baldwin said in a statement.
Updated at 9:13 pm
