The United States Senate managed to approve the procedural vote that allows progress towards a bill that unlocks funds to reopen the federal government, after a record 40 days closed due to lack of agreement.
Shortly before 11:00 p.m. local time (04:00 GMT), the Senate obtained the 60 votes necessary to move towards a compromise that would allow federal officials and agencies to be paid, after seven Democratic senators and the independent Angus King (who usually votes with the Democrats) decided to break with their party’s discipline to allow the budget to be extended until January 30.
The Democrats who decided to vote in favor of unblocking the process on the Senate floor explained that it was clear that the Republicans were not going to give in and that “there was only one agreement on the table and this was the best option to reopen the government.”
The agreement reached tonight, which must still go through other votes in the Senate and finally the Lower House, will allow the more than 650,000 officials who have not received a payroll and retroactive pay to be paid again, as well as finance the departments of Agriculture (in charge of food stamps for the poorest), Veterans Affairs and other agencies until January 30.
As part of today’s negotiations, the Republican side assured Democrats that in December they would vote to extend the subsidies of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which end this year and which had become the major obstacle to extending the budget.
The Democratic minority leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, opposed the agreement tonight and assured that while the federal government was closed, US President Donald Trump took affected Americans “hostage” by suspending the food assistance program for families, veterans, the elderly and children.
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Senate obtains the majority of votes necessary to proceed to reopen the US government
“The health care crisis is so serious and urgent for families that I cannot support this continuity resolution (of the budget),” said Schumer, whose opposition also included that of progressive senator Elizabeth Warren, who asserted that the agreement was a “big mistake.”
“I understand that some of my Democratic colleagues are not happy with this agreement, but waiting another week or month was not going to mean a better result,” said New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who has led the negotiations with the Republican caucus to overcome the impasse in which they found themselves.
The Democratic senators who voted in favor of exceeding the threshold of 60 out of 100 votes assured that one of their main objectives is to ensure that credits for Obamacare coverage are maintained for millions of Americans who depend on them.
The agreement must obtain the endorsement of the House of Representatives, where there is division in both parties. Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he will vote no, while Pete Aguilar, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, joined opposition to the bill because “it does not fix the health care crisis or make Americans’ lives more affordable.”
This closure of the federal government has lasted a record 40 days and has caused the suspension of salaries for several hundred thousand federal officials, the closure of basic services, the non-payment of food stamps for the poorest or long delays in airports and air traffic due to the shortage of controllers or members of airport security.
Faced with a lack of salaries, many officials have been forced to resort to food donations or resort to emergency loans, all while a large number continued to work without receiving their paycheck.
Furthermore, analysts were beginning to fear that the long hiatus in the federal government’s ability to fully operate was going to begin to have an irreversible impact on the growth of the US economy.
With information from EFE
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