After 43 days, the longest US government shutdown in history is coming to an end. Federal workers will start receiving pay again. National Parks will reopen. Government services that had been curtailed or suspended entirely will resume. Air travel, which had become a nightmare for many Americans, will return to being merely frustrating.
After the dust settles and the ink from President Donald Trump's signature on the funding bill dries, what has this record-setting shutdown accomplished? And what has it cost?
Senate Democrats, through their use of the parliamentary filibuster, were able to trigger the shutdown despite being a minority in the chamber by refusing to go along with a Republican measure to temporarily fund the government. They drew a line in the sand, demanding that the Republicans agree to extend health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year.
When a handful of Democrats broke ranks to vote to reopen the government on Sunday, they received next to nothing in return – a promise of a vote in the Senate on the subsidies, but no guarantees of Republican support or even a necessary vote in the House of Representatives. Since then, members of the party's left flank have been furious.
They've accused Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer – who didn't vote for the funding bill – of being secretly complicit in the reopening plan or simply incompetent. They felt that their party folded even after off-year election success showed they had the upper hand. They feared that the shutdown sacrifices had been for nothing. Even mainstream Democrats like California's Governor Gavin Newsom called the shutdown deal 'pathetic' and a 'surrender.'
For Trump, in the days since the Senate deadlock broke on Sunday, his mood has gone from cautious optimism to celebration. On Tuesday, he congratulated congressional Republicans and called the vote to reopen the government 'a very big victory.' 'We're opening up our country,' he said at a Veteran's Day commemoration at Arlington Cemetery. 'It should have never been closed.'
While Trump's approval ratings have dipped, he remains unencumbered by the immediate electoral stakes, adding pressure to Democrats who must address upcoming healthcare subsidies that could affect millions. As Congress transitions back to normal operations, the focus now shifts from the shutdown to upcoming legislative efforts and the internal dynamics within the Democratic Party. The implications of these events on the political landscape remain to be fully realized.
After the dust settles and the ink from President Donald Trump's signature on the funding bill dries, what has this record-setting shutdown accomplished? And what has it cost?
Senate Democrats, through their use of the parliamentary filibuster, were able to trigger the shutdown despite being a minority in the chamber by refusing to go along with a Republican measure to temporarily fund the government. They drew a line in the sand, demanding that the Republicans agree to extend health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year.
When a handful of Democrats broke ranks to vote to reopen the government on Sunday, they received next to nothing in return – a promise of a vote in the Senate on the subsidies, but no guarantees of Republican support or even a necessary vote in the House of Representatives. Since then, members of the party's left flank have been furious.
They've accused Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer – who didn't vote for the funding bill – of being secretly complicit in the reopening plan or simply incompetent. They felt that their party folded even after off-year election success showed they had the upper hand. They feared that the shutdown sacrifices had been for nothing. Even mainstream Democrats like California's Governor Gavin Newsom called the shutdown deal 'pathetic' and a 'surrender.'
For Trump, in the days since the Senate deadlock broke on Sunday, his mood has gone from cautious optimism to celebration. On Tuesday, he congratulated congressional Republicans and called the vote to reopen the government 'a very big victory.' 'We're opening up our country,' he said at a Veteran's Day commemoration at Arlington Cemetery. 'It should have never been closed.'
While Trump's approval ratings have dipped, he remains unencumbered by the immediate electoral stakes, adding pressure to Democrats who must address upcoming healthcare subsidies that could affect millions. As Congress transitions back to normal operations, the focus now shifts from the shutdown to upcoming legislative efforts and the internal dynamics within the Democratic Party. The implications of these events on the political landscape remain to be fully realized.
