Chapter 1: What deal did Senate Democrats and Republicans reach to end the government shutdown?
So after all that, it looks like we have a deal. I'm optimistic that after almost six weeks of this shutdown, we'll finally be able to end it. If everything holds, the government should reopen by the end of the week, putting an end to the longest shutdown in U.S. history. As of this morning, there was a zero chance of having work on the ACA. Now there's a measurable chance.
Will it be everything that everybody wanted? No, because we need 60 votes. And so there's going to be a negotiation. But Republicans have already started saying, well, here, you know, if this, he did this or did that, maybe we can get there.
Chapter 2: What are the main components of the agreement to reopen the government?
So what was it all for? And why did some Democrats cave to Republicans and President Trump?
That's coming up on Today Explained from Vox.
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Chapter 3: Why did some Democrats decide to work with Republicans on this deal?
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Chapter 4: What concessions did Democrats receive in the deal?
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It seems as if Senate Democrats and Republicans have reached the deal to end the shutdown, the longest shutdown in American history.
Chapter 5: How did the government shutdown impact federal workers and services?
Can you tell me what we know about it so far? So the deal came together pretty quickly on Sunday.
So eight senators who caucus with Democrats have broken rank with their party to advance a Republican plan to end the shutdown. The bill advanced by a vote of 60 to 40, just barely meeting the 60 votes needed to keep it moving forward.
It'll have to pass the Senate and then the House and be signed by Trump, of course. But for now, seems to be moving. As to what's actually in it... Yeah, what's in the deal? So, not much, to be honest. This is kind of just... a status quo, restart the government's funding, and continue it on until the next expiration, which will be the end of January.
Chapter 6: What factors influenced the decision to end the shutdown?
This agreement funds SNAP and food assistance programs, ensures that law enforcement, air traffic controllers, and other federal workers get paid, reverses the president's recent reckless layoffs and prevents them from happening in the future, and crucially, gives Congress a clear path forward to protecting people's health care.
But, you know, that's all just undoing stuff that happened during the shutdown itself. Yeah, cleaning up their own mess. Yes. As far as the big picture demand, which Democrats made, which was to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, they got not much. They got a commitment for the Senate to hold a vote sometime before the end of the year. But really, that's nothing.
You've got 100 votes here in the Senate. Won't mean anything because the House is not going to take it up.
Chapter 7: What are the implications of this deal for future Democratic strategies?
And the president of the United States certainly will not sign it.
And so basically they struck out on that. And that was their stated demand. A lot of Democrats wanted something more from this shutdown, some sort of deeper concessions from Donald Trump in some form. And those didn't happen at all. Trump basically made no concessions. And so I think the many are characterizing this as essentially a Democratic cave. And I think that's largely correct.
This health care crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot in good faith support this CR that fails to address the health care crisis.
So it seems like beyond the kind of nuts and bolts of reopening the government, only thing Republicans conceded was a promise to hold a vote on the health care subsidies that Democrats have been focused on in the coming months.
Chapter 8: How might this shutdown affect the upcoming elections for Democrats?
That's right. All right. Well, based on all that, it would seem as if the conclusion that Democrats caved or at least some wanted the shutdown to end on their own is an obvious one. So what was motivating the seven Democrats and one Independent who worked with Republicans to end this shutdown? Why did they break from their caucus? Yes.
So in a dynamic like this where almost every Senate Democrat voted against this deal and they're saying, oh, we need to fight harder. We need to keep going. But somehow the eight magical votes materialized to cut the deal. And typically that doesn't happen via a actual break from what party leadership wants.
Typically, what explains this scenario is what's known as the vote no, hope yes approach, that a lot of Democrats are continuing to vote no. But in reality, there is kind of a consensus in the party that enough is enough. We made our point. We're not making any progress on getting Trump to agree to any concessions. A lot of the damage is now spiraling out. Federal workers haven't been paid for
Over a month, many have been forced to work without pay, like air traffic controllers. SNAP benefits are being suspended. Flights are now being delayed or canceled. And I think there was a sense that, OK, we've stoked the longest shutdown in history. We tried to make our messaging point. But in the end, the federal government has to reopen. We're not going to, like, keep it shut down forever.
getting the things we actually wanted by stoking the shutdown fight. So it's time to just kind of cut bait and bring it to a close. And the Democrats who actually voted for this deal, they were kind of a grab bag of purple state Democrats and retiring Democrats. Some were moderate, some were liberal. But a lot of Democrats, the default position was to make the base happy by continuing to fight.
And when we see retiring Democrats saying, oh, actually, I'm going to vote for this, it's a signal that actually, you know, in their heart of hearts, probably there is broader support for this deal in the Democratic caucus than many are currently admitting. I mean, I saw Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger of Virginia say that she wanted the government to open immediately.
The entirety of Virginia's economy is impacted by this shutdown, just as we've been impacted by Doge attacks.
And the government needs to reopen quickly. And it would seem as if from what you're saying that that sentiment might be a wider held one among congressional Democrats or at least among Senate Democrats than they may have led on, at least because these eight senators joined up with Republicans to functionally keep the government open.
Yes, and, you know, Spanberger, she represents Virginia, and Virginia is obviously a very important state for federal workers, and a lot of her constituents haven't been paid. And I think what came clear in Spanberger's comments is that she didn't buy into what has been sold as the logic of this shutdown, which is that it was a very important, you know—
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