The US Senate overcomes the deadlock to end the government shutdown.

WashingtonWith over 2,700 flights canceled nationwide and the US government shutdown nearing its 40th day, the deadlock in the Senate has been broken. Shortly after 7:00 PM on Sunday (local time), news broke of a preliminary agreement between Democrats and Republicans to end the government's debt suspension. longest in historyDuring this nearly month and a half, the lack of agreement has left thousands of government employees without pay, frozen food aid for more than 40 million Americans, and sown chaos at airports across the country.

The latest proposal presented by Republicans has convinced three Democratic senators, Angus King (Maine) and Jeanne Saheen and Maggie Hassann (New Hampshire), and has obtained the 60 votes needed for a qualified majority to advance the government budget to the 30th. Four hours later, the Senate managed to pass the procedural vote that allows it to move forward with a bill that unlocks funds to reopen the federal government.

However, this is only the first step to ending the shutdown. The agreement must now go through further voting processes in the Senate itself and finally be approved by the House of Representatives.

Breakdown of party discipline

The preliminary agreement was able to move forward because these three senators broke party discipline. King justified his decision to end the government shutdown by citing the suffering the situation was causing thousands of citizens, and emphasized that the group secured a commitment from Republicans to hold a vote on whether to expand the subsidies included in the healthcare subsidy program known as Obamacare. According to details known at this time, the agreed-upon budget omits the Democrats' major demand. which led to the government shutdown: to prevent the expiration at the end of the year of the health subsidies agreed upon during the pandemic as part of Obamacare. Sunday's agreement only includes a commitment from Republicans that there will be a concrete vote in Congress on the issue. However, this concession is practically meaningless: given that Republicans hold a majority in both houses of Congress, it is highly unlikely that the Democrats' aspiration to extend the payments under this program will succeed.

The only concession that Democrats appear to have managed to wrest from Republicans is a provision committing to the reinstatement of federal employees laid off during the shutdown and guaranteeing that there will be no further mass layoffs until the end of January. It also eliminates the threat made by Donald Trump that federal employees would not receive back pay for the wages they missed during these 40 days.

Disagreements among Democrats

The decision by the three Democratic senators has also provoked rejection from other colleagues, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Democrat, who had kept his party united during these weeks while they sought an agreement with Republicans to protect Obamacare benefits, left the closed-door meeting and told reporters, "I say no." Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, has also said that House Democrats would not support the agreement when it comes to a vote.