The Senate approved this Monday an agreement sponsored by Republicans and supported by eight Democrats to temporarily finance the federal government.
By Armando Hernandez
Los Angeles, November 10 (LaOpinión).- The Senate of States Joined (EU) approved the long-awaited financing package that would end the closing of the governmentthus bringing the Congress one more step towards solving the stagnation that has paralyzed Washington for 41 days and wreaking chaos throughout the country. The legislation now passes House of Representatives for approval.
The agreement was backed by eight Democrats to temporarily fund the federal government and allow it to reopen, in a move that moves toward making official an end to the longest shutdown in the country’s history.
After weeks of negotiations, moderate Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many of their members who were demanding that Republicans negotiate with them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire on January 1.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of the Republican Party (RSD) promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.
The eight Democrats who broke away from their bloc allowed the package to advance were: Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, Tim Kaine, Dick Durbin and the independent Angus King.
The Democratic division was described as “frustrating” by Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, who said that those affected will be “24 million Americans who will potentially see their premiums increase,” because the approved agreement does not guarantee the extension of subsidies to health programs such as Obamacare that expires at the end of this year.
For their part, Republicans celebrated the agreements. Conservative Lindsey Graham told reporters that “the president is for it. If the president is for it, I think it will pass in the House of Representatives. I think it’s a good deal for the country.”
After the vote, American attention will turn to the House of Representatives and its speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, who has already called on House members to return to Washington before Wednesday, after having returned to their districts in mid-September.
After the approval in the Senate of a financing bill for the reopening of the government, the president of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Joe Gruters, assured that Democrats used the issue of health care as a hostage.
“For nearly six weeks, Republicans voted to deliver paychecks and food assistance to working Americans, while Democrats like Jon Ossoff held the government hostage on the issue of health care for undocumented immigrants,” stated Chairman Gruters.
“Now, after weeks of hardship they could have avoided, a handful of Democrats are forced to accept the same deal they rejected a month ago, sparking a deep internal crisis in their own party. From the beginning, President Trump and Republican senators fought to end this shutdown and minimize its consequences. Democrats only relented when their own chaos forced American families to pay the consequences.”