The House of Representatives was expected to end the longest government shutdown in US history early this morning, with a vote on a stopgap funding package to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.
Republicans currently hold a narrow 219-213 majority in the House. But President Donald Trump’s support for the bill is expected to keep his party together in the face of vehement opposition from House Democrats, who are angry that a long standoff launched by their Senate colleagues failed to secure a deal to extend federal health insurance subsidies.
Eight Senate Democrats on Monday broke with party leadership to pass the funding package, which would extend funding through January 30, leaving the federal government on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion a year to its $38trn in debt.
“My urgent plea of all my colleagues in the House – that means every Democrat in the House – is to think carefully, pray and finally do the right thing,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who kept his chamber in recess for nearly two months as a pressure tactic in shutdown negotiations, told reporters. House Democrats remain adamantly opposed, angered by the Senate deal.
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