It would appear that the government shutdown is finally going to end after enough Democrats crossed the aisle to approve a spending bill put on the floor by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
The best aspect of the bill, however, is that it does not include the healthcare subsidies that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was hoping to get.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) just stated that he now feels “vindicated” for everything GOP leadership and Donald Trump have been doing.
Last week, Schumer offered the GOP the option of passing a one-year extension on healthcare subsidies to mirror what was previously in place.
This was more or less something that I had suggested the GOP do two weeks ago, but that was only because, at the time, I knew that the Dems would reject the plan.
My thought process was that it would allow Republicans to get Democrats on record for refusing the extension, which would have been a huge win in terms of optics.
But when Schumer suggested such a move, I knew it was dead on arrival, and it was, as several GOP senators confirmed they would never support such a bill.
Late Sunday night, news broke that the Senate GOP had enough Democrat support to pass the funding bill, and some of the names of those who crossed the aisle, quite frankly, were a huge surprise, such as Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).
The Senate managed to break the filibuster with a vote of 60-40, the exact number needed to move forward.
It would appear that these Dems crossed over with the understanding that once the government was funded, they would start to talk about Obamacare overhauls.
They also realized that the longer this shutdown went, the greater the likelihood that they would take the political hit rather than the GOP, so they voted to reopen and work on the controversial aspects of the budget after the fact.
Johnson will still have a tough task ahead, because every GOP vote is not guaranteed, as there are a handful of Republicans in the House who want those subsidies passed, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Even so, Johnson stated, "It's a great development. It's long overdue. It vindicates our position in this all along.”
Johnson further stated that the House would “immediately” get back to work for a formal session, but that also presents another challenge for Trump.
In addition to working on getting this bill passed in the House, Johnson will swear in a new congresswoman from Arizona, which will then give Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) enough signatures for his Jeffrey Epstein document discharge petition. Dig in, folks, because it is going to be a fun week.
