US Senate Advances Plan to End Government Shutdown

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00:00Let's get a little bit more on this now. We are joined by Laura Davison on the U.S. Senate,

00:05taking that major step towards reopening the government. This is after a group of moderate

00:09Democrats broke with the party, voted to support a deal to end the shutdown. So let's get a little

00:14bit more detail on this. Bring in our Washington Deputy Bureau Chief, Laura Davison. So, Laura,

00:20what broke the siege here? What brought about the breakthrough and who's had to compromise on what?

00:26Yeah. So what has really gotten bad in the past several days in the U.S. has been air travel.

00:34There's been a lot of chaos at airports and flight cancellations. We've also now, the shutdown is

00:39in its 40th day. You have millions of federal workers who have gone without paychecks, as well

00:44as 40-some million Americans who were expecting food aid to arrive almost two weeks ago that hasn't

00:50yet hit their accounts. You have with hunger and flight delays, as well as people who are working

00:54without pay. And this has really just amounted to pressure on some of those moderate Democrats

00:59who represent states that maybe Trump won or that have, you know, that they're also appealing

01:04to Republicans to say, look, we need to go ahead and reopen the government. You know, it was a small

01:09subsection of Democrats. You know, this is really going to cause some fissures within the party going

01:14forward. But this is, you know, you had a small group saying, look, you know, we need to, you know,

01:19even if we're not getting our demands on health care, they got a promise to hold a vote later

01:23in December on that. So they are saying, look, we were able to get our priorities, if not right now.

01:29So if this gets passed, how long is the deal going to last for? What is the risk that we're back here

01:36again in weeks or months?

01:37It is very likely, or at least possible, that there could be more shutdown action once we enter

01:452026. This bill funds certain portions of the government, particularly the Agriculture Department

01:50and the Veterans Affairs Department for a full calendar year. But for the rest of the government,

01:56which is, you know, you know, the vast majority of the spending, that funding will run out on January

02:0030th. So that sets up another deadline here where lawmakers could, you know, if there is an impasse,

02:07could shut down the government again. You know, shutdowns are, you know, quite rare typically,

02:11but we've seen those tick up, you know, particularly when Democrats, they don't have other places to

02:15force their agenda because they're out of control in Washington. So forcing a shutdown is one of the

02:19few opportunities they have. And is it all over in terms of the Senate as well? Because isn't it's

02:26correct to say that, you know, any one senator could force a procedural delay here? Is this a done deal?

02:32It is not yet. There's a couple things that need to happen. One, so the vote in the Senate that just

02:38happened, that was just a test vote, sort of a procedural hurdle. They actually still have to

02:43vote on final passage of this. They could do it if all senators consent quite quickly, or it could

02:48take them several days if there are senators that want to throw up some roadblocks. The bill then needs

02:53to go to the House. House Democrats have said they're already not going to support the bill.

02:57This can pass on Republican votes alone, but we're watching very closely, particularly

03:01some conservative hardline members that typically vote against spending bills.

03:06Republicans are going to have to scound up every vote they can to get us across the finish line.

03:10And then it goes to Donald Trump's desk for signatures. So there's a lot of things that

03:13have to happen before the shutdown can officially be over.