Well. Apparently messing with people’s air travel was the thing that did it. Not withholding food from poor people—that wasn’t quite enough—and not letting people start feeling the pain of the exorbitant health insurance premiums they’re going to start paying if the federal subsidies aren’t extended. Nope, those things affect people without a lot of money (and therefore not a lot of power). So Republicans brought out the big guns: we’re going to mess with your ability to fly. That affects people with money and power, and that worked. Within 72 hours of air travel restrictions, the 41-day government shut down—the longest in history—appears to be coming to an end.
And how? 8 moderate Democrats in the Senate decided to vote with the Republicans to advance a short-term funding measure, the first step in re-opening the government. The Senate will need to debate and then pass a final bill, and that bill will still need the approval of the House, and then signature by the president. House Speaker Mike Johnson has summoned everyone to return immediately so they can vote on it, post-haste.
The short-term funding measure extends government funding through January 30, and passes a series of longer-term spending bills, including funding SNAP through the end of this fiscal year. (Unless another continuing resolution is passed by Jan 30, the government will shut down again.)
The good: If passed, this deal will reverse all the firings of federal workers who were RIFd during the shutdown, and it will ensure all federal workers who still had to work during the shutdown (like air traffic controllers, TSA, and more) get paid what they were owed for working during the shutdown. (Well I should HOPE so!) It also offers protections so that no other federal workers can be laid off through the end of the fiscal year.
The bad: With very limited exceptions (basically what’s above), this is the same exact bill Democrats have been rejecting all along. There are no extended health insurance subsidies, no changes to prevent the president from continuing to withhold congressionally appropriated funds like he’s being doing, nothing. If Democrats didn’t get any wins, then the 41 days of pain from the shutdown were for naught. We might as well have skipped it.
Yes, as part of the deal, Senate Republicans have promised to hold a vote in early December on extending health insurance subsidies. That’s not actually written into the bill that’s about to pass, it’s just a handshake agreement. And they haven’t said they’ll vote to pass any extension to the subsidies, just that they’ll vote on it.
Mark my words: Average Americans are all about to be hosed. If I’m wrong I will come back here and apologize, loud and clear. But I think we all know how this is going to go. The Democrats are like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football.
Notably, not one of the 8 Democrats who crossed the aisle for this vote are up for re-election in 2026, leading many to suggest that despite the outrage some in Democratic leadership might be displaying for the cameras, this was probably orchestrated behind the scenes. They worked to protect the most vulnerable among them during the midterms. They’re hoping by the time it matters, we’ll forget those who agreed to vote for this bill.
Let’s not forget.
Here are the 8 names to remember:
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Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois
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Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada
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Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
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Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
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Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire
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Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia
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Sen. Angus King of Maine (he’s an independent who caucuses with Democrats)
Here are their faces.
Remember this when Lucy pulls the football, again.