Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The federal government shutdown is over. The House passed short-term spending legislation last night.
Chapter 2: What led to the end of the federal government shutdown?
Democrats had demanded that Republicans restore subsidies for soaring health care premiums under the Affordable Care Act. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Republicans don't care that Americans cannot afford health care.
The longest shutdown in American history. Would rather do that. then provide health care that's affordable to working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, and hardworking American taxpayers.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson says the Democrats were wrong to demand changes to health care subsidies in exchange for votes to end the shutdown.
They admitted that they were using the American people as leverage in this political game. They knew that it would cause pain, and they did it anyway. The whole exercise was pointless. It was wrong and it was cruel.
Senate Republican leaders say they will allow Democrats to introduce a bill on restoring health care subsidies next month. But even if that bill passes in the Senate, it's not clear Republicans in the House will even consider it. Stocks opened lower as the federal government begins to reopen after a six-week shutdown.
NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped about 100 points in early trading.
Investors have mostly had to do without official government economic reports during the shutdown. The federal workers, who typically keep tabs on jobs, prices, and spending, were among those furloughed.
Now that the shutdown is over, government number crunchers will play catch-up, trying to give workers, businesses, and financial markets a clearer picture of where the economy's been during the last six weeks and where it might be going. Stock in the Walt Disney Company opened down after a mixed quarterly report.
Disney theme parks are drawing big crowds, and its streaming service is doing well, but Disney's TV networks and some of its movies have struggled. Asian stocks were mostly up overnight. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
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