House is poised to approve measure to end shutdown over Democrats’ opposition
WASHINGTON- The House is expected to return to session Wednesday with a vote expected in the evening on a spending package that, if approved and signed by President Trump, will end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The bill, passed by the Senate Monday evening, is expected to narrowly pass the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. House Democrats are widely expected to oppose the deal, which does not include a core demand: an expansion of the Affordable Care Act’s health care tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he believed the deal was on track to pass by the end of the day.
“We believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,” Johnson told reporters in Washington. “It was completely stupid and unnecessary.”
House Democrats were expected to meet before the vote to discuss their vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday evening that there was a “strong expectation” that Democrats would be “strongly opposed” to the shutdown deal in the final vote.
If the tax credits expire, premiums will more than double on average for more than 20 million Americans who use the health care marketplace, according to independent analysts at research firm KFF.
The spending bill, if approved, will fund the government through Jan. 30 and reinstate federal workers laid off during the shutdown. It will also guarantee back pay to federal employees who were furloughed or working without pay during the budget impasse.
Passage of the bill would mark a crucial moment on the 43rd day of the shutdown, which has left thousands of federal workers without pay, millions of Americans uncertain about whether they would receive food aid and travelers facing delays at airports across the country.
A vote is expected to begin after 4 p.m. EST — after Johnson swears in Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), elected seven weeks ago. Once sworn in, Grijalva is expected to become the final vote needed to force a floor vote on a petition demanding that the Trump administration release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The inauguration ceremony will soon lay the groundwork for a House vote that Trump has long tried to avoid. This would come as the Epstein saga was reignited Wednesday morning when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released new emails in which the late sex trafficker said Trump “knew about the girls” he victimized.
The emails are part of a trove of documents from Epstein’s estate released to the committee.
