Washington — The Senate took a key step toward ending the government shutdown on Sunday night by advancing a funding bill that unlocks a broader agreement on long-term spending and the promise of a future vote on extending health care tax credits.The vote was 60-40, with eight Democrats providing the votes needed to move forward with the legislation. One Republican voted against it.The eight Democrats had been engaged in bipartisan talks over ending the stalemate for several weeks, and reached the agreement without the support of the party’s leaders in the upper chamber. The agreement they struck does nothing to address the expiring health care tax credits — which had been their party’s key demand — besides the promise of a future vote on the issue. The deal left many Democrats furious with the eight senators who voted to advance it and with the party’s leaders for allowing the defections.The path forward in the Senate will involve several procedural votes on incorporating the various elements of the deal into a final piece of legislation. Any senator could delay the process, leaving the timeline for final passage unclear. Here’s what is in the agreement:Government funding extension until Jan. 30The final deal will include a 31-page continuing resolution that extends current levels of government funding through January 2026 to give lawmakers more time to finalize full-year spending bills. The House passed a continuing resolution to extend funding until Nov. 21 in September, but until Sunday the Senate was unable to advance it. With that deadline less than two weeks away, Senate negotiators determined that they would need another extension to continue work on appropriations. Some senators had floated a December deadline in a new continuing resolution, but House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed that possibility, since it would pressure lawmakers to approve new spending before the holidays.A future vote on health care tax creditsAs part of the deal, Senate Republicans agreed to hold a vote on the health care tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, which help millions of Americans purchase health insurance on state exchanges. The credits are set to expire at the end of the year, and patients are facing eye-popping increases for their insurance premiums. Under the deal, a vote would be held by the end of the second week of December, and the Democrats would have final say on what is in the bill.But a Senate vote on the issue is likely to fail, since most GOP senators are opposed to the Affordable Care Act overall and the tax credits in particular.That fact explains why so many Democrats are angry over the agreement, since it does not include an extension of the credits and only promises a future vote. That offer has also been on the table for weeks.”There’s no way to defend this,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in a video on X. “And you are right to be angry about it. I’m angry about it.”Last Friday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would reopen the government if Republicans agreed to a one-year extension of the credits. Republicans swiftly rejected Schumer’s pitch, and spent Saturday railing against the ACA in speeches on the Senate floor.A “minibus” of 3 appropriations billsThe deal includes three year-long funding bills that lawmakers have been working on for months. The three bills include funding for military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Agriculture and FDA; and operations for the legislative branch.The bills have been dubbed a “minibus” — a smaller version of massive “omnibus” government funding legislation that lawmakers often adopt before the end of the year. Republicans in both chambers have emphasized their desire to return to passing individual spending bills through regular order, instead of through a large end-of-year package.The minibus includes funding for the relevant agencies and programs through September 2026. Because of that, the agencies would still be funded even if lawmakers fail to reach a funding deal in other areas by the end of January. Notably, it would restore full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which faced funding shortfalls due to the shutdown.A reversal of shutdown layoffs and restrictions on future cutsThe new continuing resolution includes language that reverses the layoffs that the Trump administration implemented during the government shutdown, and prevents any cuts until the end of January. The resolution states that “any reduction in force proposed, noticed, initiated, executed, implemented, or otherwise taken by an Executive Agency between October 1, 2025, and the date of enactment, shall have no force or effect.” A reduction in force, or RIF, is the government’s term for layoffs.The resolution also says that “no federal funds may be used to initiate, carry out, implement, or otherwise notice a reduction in force to reduce the number of employees within any department, agency, or office of the Federal Government” until Jan. 30.The Trump administration began laying off thousands of federal employees during the early stages of the shutdown, an effort that was blocked by a federal judge. The continuing resolution says that “Any employee who received notice of being subject to such a reduction in force shall have that notice rescinded and be returned to employment status as of September 30, 2025, without interruption” and that those employees “shall receive all pay to which they otherwise would have been entitled.”Back pay for federal workersThe continuing resolution explicitly provides money to provide back pay for federal employees, both those who have been furloughed and those who have continued to work. The legislation ensures that the workers who have missed paychecks since Oct. 1 will be made whole. Earlier in the shutdown, the White House had told agencies that a 2019 law ensuring back pay for workers might not apply to those on furlough. The relevant portion of federal law states that employees should be provided back pay “at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends,” and the continuing resolution specifies that funds can be used to make the payments.
