WASHINGTON — Senators struck an agreement Sunday, projecting confidence that it will be sufficient to end the lengthy U.S. government shutdown, three sources with direct knowledge of the details told NBC News.
The agreement, reached by a group of Democrats who teamed up with Republicans, cleared the first hurdle on a vote of 60-40 to advance in a late-night Senate vote. If it's approved, it would then need to pass the House and gain President Donald Trump's signature to become law and reopen the government.
Even if it has enough support to clear those hurdles, the process is expected to take days.
The agreement contains a “minibus” — three full-year appropriations bills that will fund certain departments like Agriculture through the end of the fiscal year next fall — and a continuing resolution to fund the rest of the government at existing spending levels through Jan. 30.
It would also fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once known as food stamps, through next September, a major flashpoint in the shutdown.
The sources said the deal also reverses Trump’s attempted layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown through RIFs, or “reduction in force” notifications.
But in a major concession from Democrats, it does not include an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Allowing the funds to lapse would raise insurance premiums for millions of Americans unless they are extended. Instead, the Democrats settled for a promise that the Senate will vote on a bill to extend the subsidies by the end of the second week of December, with the outcome uncertain, two of the sources said.
Even then, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he won’t promise that the House will vote on extending the subsidies.
The deal to end the shutdown was negotiated by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine, and gained approval from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the White House, according to the sources.
The eight Democrats who voted to advance the measure were Shaheen, Hassan, King as well as Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.
“After 40 long days, I’m hopeful that we can finally bring this shutdown to an end,” Thune said on the floor, citing the “truly precarious situation” of federal workers forced to work without pay and delays at airports as air traffic controllers and TSA agents missed paychecks.
View this graphic on nbcnews.comIt came a few days after Republicans emphatically rejected a proposal by Democrats to reopen the government alongside a one-year extension of the ACA funds.
King, who opposed the shutdown strategy from the start, said Democrats changed course on the ACA “because it wasn’t working” and it was clear Republicans wouldn't budge.
The agreement follows extensive bicameral negotiations between party leaders and appropriators on the “minibus” package. Conservatives secured their demand to push the short-term bill into 2026, defeating calls by Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, to set a mid-December deadline.
If it passes, it would then head to the House, which has been on recess since September. And it is not clear that the deal has the support of House Democrats.
The agreement drew mixed early reaction from Senate Democrats.
“Because of Republicans, Americans are going to suffer immensely as this health care crisis gets worse,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said before the vote, slamming Republicans for repeatedly refusing Democratic proposals to continue the ACA funds. “Therefore, I must vote no.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who voted against the measure, warned fellow Democrats they were making a “mistake.”
“This bill doesn’t do anything to arrest the health care catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump’s illegality,” he said. “I think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress to do, and more specifically, what they wanted Democrats to do. And I’m really saddened that we didn’t listen to them.”
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said he’ll oppose the deal, as it fails to extend the ACA tax credits.
“I have been clear on this from the beginning: I will not turn my back on the 24 million Americans who will see their premiums more than double if we don’t extend these tax credits,” he said.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he will vote for it. “I have long said that to earn my vote, we need to be on a path toward fixing Republicans’ health care mess and to protect the federal workforce,” said Kaine. “This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do. Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will.”
Shaheen, the author of a permanent ACA funding extension bill, said the current agreement “was the only deal on the table” and represented Democrats’ “best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits.”
Asked whether she would be willing to vote down a government funding bill in January if Congress fails to pass an ACA funding extension by then, Shaheen replied, “That’s certainly an option that everybody will consider.”
Outside the Senate, the Democratic backlash to the bipartisan agreement was swift. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., wrote on X, “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who was elected governor last week, slammed the Senate agreement in a statement: “Make no mistake, if this deal passes, it will lead to New Jerseyans paying far more for their [health care].”
