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Senate Reaches Deal To Extend Government Funding Paving The Way To End Government Shutdown; Interview With Representative Jeff Hurd (R-CO). Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 09, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:37]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.
We do have breaking news for you. We are watching as the Senate could begin voting on a measure that clears the way for the government shutdown to end tonight, a rare Sunday night in which the U.S. Senate is in session. There's word some Democrats are willing to compromise on their key sticking point extending health care subsidies as long as they're guaranteed a vote and several other provisions.
Now, not all Democrats are behind this, and there is some back and forth in between the Democratic Party right now over whether this is a good deal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is not behind this at the moment. And if the deal does pass the Senate, though, it does still have to go to the House for a vote. So just to remind us where we are in the process.
In the meantime, the 42 million people who depend on SNAP benefits still do not have enough food to feed their families. Many federal workers are either not at work or still working without pay. Regardless, none of them are getting paid and the air travelers are still facing canceled flights and delays.
Betsy Klein is covering the president at the White House. Let's begin, though, with Manu Raju, our chief congressional correspondent, who is live on Capitol Hill with the very latest on that.
Manu, you broke this news of what appears to be a bipartisan agreement. What more can you tell us?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we do expect this vote to happen probably within the hour. And Democrats are divided over this. In fact, we are seeing opposition from the top Democrats in Congress over this deal that was cut among rank and file senators on the Democratic side, along with Republicans, to end this 40-day government shutdown as the consequences have piled up for so many Americans, millions of Americans, throughout this crisis, now poised to end because of this bipartisan deal.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, is a no, as is his future number two, the next person who is expected to be the next number two, Senator Brian Schatz, also says he is a no. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said that they will oppose this plan. Why? Because it does not include what had been the chief demand of Democrats, which initiated this government shutdown fight 40 days ago.
That being an extension of those expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Democrats contended that it must be dealt with immediately because people were seeing their health care premiums rise and they said it must be tied to the government funding bill. But in this deal, because of opposition, particularly from Donald Trump, who has intensified his opposition to extending those subsidies over the last several days, Democrats agreed to a standalone vote on the Affordable Care Act, not tied to the government funding bill.
By December, they will have that vote on the Obamacare bill. However, there is no guarantee that that bill will become law. In fact, it is almost certainly will not become law, which is why Democrats on the left flank are furious at some of their colleagues for cutting this deal. But the proponents of this deal say that they -- their party has won, succeeded on making the health care issue a national fight with the Republican Party.
They believe they are on the winning side of that national fight, and also on the policy itself. This bill would extend government funding through January 30th. It also would reinstate federal workers who they say were improperly fired by the Trump administration and also prevent future federal firings as well, and ensure that those food stamp benefits, also known as SNAP, would continue to flow to those 42 million Americans who are starting to see those benefits dry up.
And perhaps most importantly, for the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who have been furloughed, they will go back to work in a matter of days once this does become law and eventually get their backpay after missing paycheck after paycheck during this very damaging 40-day government shutdown.
So when will this all end, Jessica? We still don't have the precise timing of that. We do expect that procedural vote to happen tonight. That would require 60 votes. We do expect enough Democrats, I am told, to get the 60 votes necessary to go to the next step, but then they need to reach some sort of agreement to speed up the final vote. Could that happen tonight? Maybe. That could also be delayed until sometime middle of the week.
And also, the House of Representatives has been out of session since September 19th, and they have to come back into session in order to vote on the final passage of this bill.
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That decision to keep the House out of session by the speaker of the House to pressure Democrats to back their -- the Republican plans. Ultimately, the House will have to come back into session, bless this plan, goes to the president's desk. So we're still a couple of days away likely for the final proposal here, going to the president's desk. But nevertheless, a big sigh of relief for so many Americans who want this government shutdown to end. And now it looks like it finally will -- Jess. DEAN: Yes, those House members may need to start getting those travel
plans in order if they have looked at any of the flights recently. Manu, we will be checking in with you throughout the night as these
votes are likely to get underway.
I do want to check in now with Betsy Klein, who is at the White House.
Obviously, this shutdown has been a major piece of what the administration has been dealing with for more than a month. What is the president saying about this potential funding deal?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, the president and his team watching the Senate floor extremely closely in the moments ahead. And this government shutdown has been historically long. It's been 40 days of uncertainty and pain for the more than one million federal workers, many of whom have been deemed essential and forced to go to work every day, some of whom have been living paycheck to paycheck and are really struggling during this time to make ends meet.
But the pain for the American people really escalated over the weekend. First, on air travel, Secretary Duffy of the Transportation Department warning that there could be air travel reduced to a trickle if the shutdown continued into this very busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season. And separately, the Trump administration had ordered states to disburse partial, just 65 percent of those SNAP benefits. Those are the vital nutrition benefits that more than 42 million Americans depend upon to eat. About one in eight people.
And the heart of the issue driving the shutdown, as Manu just laid out, is the question of extending those enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire very soon. President Trump made very clear that he was opposed to doing that in any bill to reopen the government. But the president had also shifted his tone in the aftermath of those bruising elections for Republicans earlier this week.
The president had been casting the shutdown as a positive for his party. But he said after those elections that he believed Democrats were not shouldering enough of the blame. We saw him a few hours ago at the Commanders-Lions NFL game next to House Speaker Mike Johnson, and as he returned to the White House, he weighed in on the latest developments. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It looks like we're getting very close on the shutdown. We'll never agree to give any substantial money or any money to really prisoners, illegals that come into our country. And I think the Democrats understand that. And it looks like we're getting close to the shutdown ending. You'll know very soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KLEIN: Now, one major outstanding question for the White House is whether those furloughed federal workers are going to receive backpay. President Trump signed a law back in 2019 guaranteeing so but he has called that into question in recent weeks -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Betsy Klein with the latest on all of this from the White House. Again, thanks so much for that reporting as well.
We are joined now by Republican Representative Jeff Hurd from Colorado.
Congressman, thanks so much for being here with us. Our colleague Manu just laid out what we know about this deal. Obviously, the Senate is going to do what the Senate is going to do, but ultimately it has to come back to the House. Will you vote to support what we know is in this agreement right now?
REP. JEFF HURD (R-CO): Well, thanks, Jessica. It's great to see you. First, we're just now seeing what the Senate is working on. I just saw the details of that Continuing Resolution. It looks like it's 31 pages. That's much better than the 68-page version that the Senate Democrats were previously holding out for. We'll have to see exactly what's in it. But if this does open the government and gets us back to regular order of doing the appropriations process the way that we should be doing it, that's a good thing.
DEAN: Yes. And have you had any -- and it's early, but have you had any communication from Republican leadership at this point about getting back to Washington?
HURD: Not yet, but we're getting ready. Certainly that's going to be complicated by the fact that we are now past 40 days of the shutdown. And TSA and FAA and our air traffic controllers are already stressed. But I hope to be back in Washington. I hope to be voting soon. This is getting the government open and protecting workers and getting back to responsible budgeting process is what we're supposed to be doing.
It's a shame that we're here. It's a shame that Senate Democrats held the government closed for as long as they did, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we're going to be back working, legislating again in Washington before the end of the week.
DEAN: This deal reportedly includes a reversal of the president's firing of federal employees and provisions to prevent this in the future. Do you agree with that?
HURD: Yes. I do not believe that we should be firing federal employees. I believe that's what the law requires, so there's a clarification that's in this Continuing Resolution that would be something that I would support.
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But again, we shouldn't even be having to have this discussion. The government should never have shut down. The House of Representatives did its job months ago in passing a clean Continuing Resolution. The fact that we're even having this discussion is something that's completely unnecessary. But hopefully we'll have those employees back at work here by the end of the week. DEAN: I want to talk about these health care subsidies, which is what
this is really hinged on. You were one of four, so you and three of your House colleagues, two of those Democrats, yourself, and another Republican, obviously, put forth some principles and kind of a plan outlining how you could extend the ACA tax credits for two years with some provisions. So where do you go now with that plan? Because currently what the Senate is saying is we're going to reopen -- we'll move forward with reopening the government if we get a vote on these subsidies.
Do you think that your, you know, your ideas, your legislation could be something they could vote on? Where do you see this going?
HURD: Well, I think the proposal that Tom Suozzi and Josh Gottheimer and Don Bacon and I proposed, the bipartisan framework is the best proposal I've seen so far that would bridge the gap that would extend the enhanced premium tax credit subsidies for a temporary period of time, giving us time as Congress to look at those underlying cost drivers. Exactly how that would come forward, we'll have to see.
But the most important thing for my position is we get the government back open again. It looks like we might be doing that soon. Once that happens, let's get to tackling the cost of health care, which is something that matters not only in my district in Colorado, but across every district in the country. No matter how red or how blue your district is, health care and the cost of health care is a top priority for every member of Congress.
DEAN: And some of your Republican colleagues have said, listen, we just think this is too expensive. We don't want to spend the money on it. What do you say to them?
HURD: Well, look, there is a health care crisis. So many of our constituents are looking at premiums that are skyrocketing. We need to address the immediate issue of those skyrocketing premiums.
DEAN: Congressman, I'm so sorry to interrupt you. I really apologize. We just have Senate Majority Leader Thune speaking, and we're going to dip in. And I'm so sorry to interrupt you. We'll hope to get back to you. Oh, never mind. We don't have him. So please continue your thought now that I have interrupted you.
HURD: Thanks, Jessica. Well, I see where I rank. That makes sense.
DEAN: No, we're very glad to have you. Trust me.
HURD: No, that's quite all right. I totally get it. The action is happening in the Senate right now. Look, the issue that we're dealing with is a skyrocketing cost of health insurance premiums. We got to address that immediate issue. And the legislation that -- the bipartisan legislation that we proposed and the framework that we proposed would give us two years to do that. But fundamentally, as Republicans, as Democrats, we need to be coming together to address the underlying health care cost drivers.
And that's something that I'm committed to. And I know my colleagues on the Republican side are. We may not agree on everything, but there is certainly a lot of area where we can find common ground with our Democratic colleagues in driving down those health care costs. And that's something that's important for me and for everyone else I think in Congress.
DEAN: All right. Congressman Jeff Hurd, thank you so much and good luck getting back to Washington. We appreciate your time tonight. We really do.
HURD: Thank you so much, Jessica. I really appreciate it.
DEAN: Thank you.
And you are looking at Republican Senator Susan Collins speaking there on the Senate floor. We can listen to her for a moment.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): FDA bill, the military construction and Veterans Affairs legislation, very timely, given that Veterans Day will soon be upon us, and the legislative branch funding. This three bill package, which originally passed the Senate on August 1st with overwhelming bipartisan support, 87 votes in two cases, 81 in another, will support our veterans, our troops, our farmers and rural communities.
Of note, this package will provide full year funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP and the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC. One of the most unfortunate and shameful consequences of the shutdown has been that these vital nutrition programs were in jeopardy for our most vulnerable families, including 170,000 Mainers who rely on the SNAP program.
Other programs will be funded through January 30th, while the Senate and House continue our work on the remainder of the yearlong appropriations bills. For example, funding for the important programs like Head Start and such as the low income heating assistance program will now be restored. I look forward to voting for this legislation and ending the unnecessary harm to the security of our families and our nations.
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We must begin to act tonight. We must not delay any longer.
Finally, Mr. President, I want to thank the many members on both sides of the aisle of the Appropriations Committee and the Senate leadership who have worked especially hard to bring this package together. And I would be remiss --
DEAN: Again, that's Senator Susan Collins from Maine, speaking on the Senate floor as we watch the Senate floor for the Senate to potentially begin voting on a measure that would pave the way for them to potentially find a way to end this government shutdown. We're going to keep an eye on that. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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DEAN: And you're looking at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who leads Senate Democrats. Let's hear what he's saying.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): And making every day harder for American families. Because of Republicans Americans are going to suffer immensely as this health care crisis gets worse. Democrats have been fighting to end this crisis over and over again. Democrats have wanted to lower costs, but Republicans fought us every step of the way.
We gave Republicans not one, not two, but three chances this year to extend the ACA premium tax credits. Republicans said no every time. On Friday, we offered Republicans a compromise, a proposal that would extend the ACA tax credits for a year and open up the government at the same time. They once again said no. And when they said no on our compromise, they showed that they are against any health care reform.
Instead, they passed the biggest health care cuts in our nation's history just to give tax breaks to billionaires. And even then, they weren't satisfied with merely closing hospitals and community health clinics. They callously did nothing to deal with the looming crisis of ACA credits. Premiums will spike by thousands of dollars a month. Millions will lose insurance.
Democrats have sounded the alarm. We have demanded for months to meet with the Republican leadership, but Republican leaders refused to even discuss the issue, let alone negotiate it. We've asked them to meet in the summer and throughout the shutdown. To this day, Republicans still say no.
We asked President Trump to step in and meet with us to deliver lower health care for Americans, and instead, Donald Trump is taking the American people hostage. From cutting off food aid to hungry families and vets and seniors and kids, to manufacturing flight cancellations, to cutting off home heating aid, while he builds a billion dollar ballroom with gold plated toilets. Therefore, therefore, I must vote no.
This health care crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot, in good faith, support this C.R., that it fails -- that fails to address the health care crisis. But let me be clear, however this vote turns out, this fight will and must continue. Democrats must fight because of millions of millions of families will lose health care coverage. We must fight because children who are dying of cancer will not get health care coverage.
We must fight because a senior citizen cannot afford to pay $25,000 a year just for health insurance. We must fight to keep millions from financial ruin. And make no mistake about it, the American people know who is inflicting this health care trauma on them. Donald Trump and the Republicans. Americans will remember Republican intransigence every time they make a sky high payment on health insurance.
So we are going to fight legislatively, fight back home, fight in the courts and bring this fight in the elections. Health care costs made a major impact on the 2020 election, and they will certainly have an even greater impact on the 2026 election. So, in conclusion, the contrast between the two parties is crystal clear. Republicans are the party hellbent on taking people's health care away, all to bow to the billionaire elite and special interests.
Democrats are united as the party of lower health care costs and improving our health care system. We will not give up this fight. We will deliver for the American people.
I yield the floor.
DEAN: All right. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer there saying what we already knew, which is that he will not be voting to advance this deal. He says that it fails to address the health care crisis in this country. But our reporting indicates that as of right now, there are enough Democrats who will join Republicans.
This is Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who I do think we should also listen to. Let's listen to what he's saying.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): The fact that our staffs have been working without pay for a full 40 days now, all of us,. Republicans and Democrats, who support this bill know that the time to act is now. And so in just a few minutes, I will call up the vehicle for a clean Continuing Resolution packaged with three bipartisan yearlong appropriations bills, agricultural appropriations, military construction, VA appropriations, and legislative branch appropriations.
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These bills will fund SNAP for the entire fiscal year. They will fund WIC for the entire fiscal year, and they will fund our veterans for the entire fiscal year. After 40 days of uncertainty I'm profoundly glad to be able to announce that nutrition programs, our veterans, and other critical priorities will have their full year funding. And my goal is to quickly move to other full year appropriations bills.
As I've said many times, I firmly believe the way to fund the government is by passing appropriations bills through regular order, a process that gives senators from both parties the fullest chance to make their voices heard.
Mr. President, I also want to mention health care. There have been a lot -- there's been a lot of talk over the last several weeks on both sides of the aisle about the health care crisis in this country. And I'm thankful to be able to say that we have senators, both Democrat and Republican, who are eager to get to work to address that crisis in a bipartisan way. These senators are not interested in political games. They're interested in finding real ways to address health care costs for American families.
We also have a president who is willing to sit down and get to work on this issue. And so I'm looking forward to seeing what solutions might be brought forward. Regardless, as I have said for weeks to my Democrat friends, I will schedule a vote on their proposal and I have committed to having that vote no later than the second week in December.
Mr. President, again, I am optimistic that after almost six weeks of this shutdown, we finally -- we'll finally be able to end it. I will call up that bill in a matter of minutes, and I look forward to passing the clean Continuing Resolution, an appropriations bill package in the very near future.
Now, Mr. President, I move to proceed to the motion to reconsider the cloture vote on October 16th on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5371.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is on the motion. All in favor, say aye.
SENATORS: Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Others no? The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to.
THUNE: Mr. President, I move to reconsider the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5371.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is on the motion. All in favor say aye.
SENATORS: Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opposed, same sign. The ayes appear to have it. The eyes do have it. The motion is agreed to.
The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of Rule 22 of the standing rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar 168 H.R. 5371, an act making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026 and for other purposes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under the previous order, the mandatory quorum call under Rule 22 has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5371, an act making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026 and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close upon consideration -- reconsideration. The ayes and nays are mandatory under the rule, the clerk will call the roll.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Brooks. Miss Baldwin. Mr. Banks. Mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Thank you.
DEAN: All right. You are watching live on the Senate floor right now as the Senate votes on the first procedural vote in potentially reopening the government. And again, there are going to be a number of votes. So just to -- just to level set here, this first one will advance a plan that reopens the government. Now the Democrats have blocked a similar vote 14 times since the
government has been shut down. And our reporting indicates at this time that there are enough Democrats to join Republicans to move forward with this. If that happens, if they get to 60, that's the magic number there, it unlocks all of these steps that they'll be able to take to then get to this deal, to voting on this deal that they've come to reopen the government, which would then have to go to the House.
So there's still a lot of steps ahead of us. But this is a really key vote. And what you want to watch for on this vote is which Democrats join Republicans in unlocking this process. So that is what we are keeping an eye on. Now the clerk is calling the roll.
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This typically takes a bit of time. However, sometimes on a Sunday night when they're not normally in session, you see how many senators are in there. They don't have to wrangle them as much, so it could go a bit faster than we're used to.
I believe we have David Urban with us, a Republican strategist, and of course, Karen Finney, CNN political commentator is with us as well.
I'm not, is Manu -- we're going to check in with Manu as soon as we can get him. But he is also there on the hill tracking this as well. Let's bring in David and Karen as again, we're watching the Senate floor for this key vote to start.
Karen, I want to start with you because, look, Democrats are not in agreement. We just heard from the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who's not supporting this. We, again, as I've said, are reporting indicates that there are some Democrats that will enough to get to 60. Walk people through the really kind of the back and forth between Senate Democrats but more broadly the Democratic Party right now on whether this is a good move.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think there's going to be some division on this, and we're already starting to see that. I mean, as you pointed out, we just saw that from Chuck Schumer. We know going into the weekend, obviously there were negotiations started to intensify. I think people were really starting to feel the heat, given the very real pain that this has been causing Americans, not just in the airports, but people who are going without a paycheck.
And so these negotiations intensified over the weekend, and I think there's some real disagreement about whether or not where we go from here in terms of health care. Obviously, from the Senate side, there seems to be an agreement and we have to just take it on faith that John Thune will be a man of his word and have this, if this passes, have this vote on health care and do the work to have conversations about lowering health care costs.
I think on the positive side, I think Democrats feel like they have made Republicans own this issue and really raise the importance of this issue. Many of us right now are evaluating our health care costs. At the same time, there's real disappointment. I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to try to, you know, I'm not going to spin that, right? There is real disappointment that instead of what was proposed by Senator Schumer on Friday, which would have tied reopening of the government with the extension of the health care subsidies, that unfortunately, that's not part of this agreement.
And I will also add, I think there's some also some question about what will House Democrats do? What will the House leader Johnson actually do? Will he agree to also hold a vote? Just because the Senate does it doesn't mean the House is going to do it. So I think there are a lot of questions still roaming around that are part of this, you know, this dissatisfaction and this sort of disagreement among Democrats.
DEAN: Yes. And look, David and I talked a little bit earlier as well. And I wonder, too, David, to your point you were making earlier, you were making the point that how is this different than what could have been done several weeks ago?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, yes. You know, so my point remains the same. And it's remained the same. There's entire shutdown, the six-week period where Americans suffered pain, economic pain, fear, uncertainty, all because of one man. That man you saw in the glasses earlier on, the minority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer. His fear of facing a primary, the lack of his internal fortitude of just doing what he's there to do, to pass bills and keep the government open.
He could have -- if he had done the clean C.R., just like they're doing tonight. The C.R., plus the spending packages, Republicans, as Karen says, everybody in America wants to see health costs go down. Nobody wants to see health costs continue to rise. What Chuck Schumer's plan was, let's just throw some more money at it. So they'll get a vote. Democrats will get a vote on their plan. I doubt it's going to pass.
And then Democrats and Republicans are going to have to work together to try to figure out how to reduce health care costs. Health care costs in America are too high. Americans are paying too much for health care. If you look at the S&P, compared to what the profits of a major health care companies are in America, it's pretty, pretty startling. So I think that cost curve is going to have to get bent.
And I would just go back, Jess, and say, what is different about vote number 15 than was different than vote number one that Chuck Schumer could have done. And listen, he could have hung this health care debate around Republicans' neck six weeks ago as opposed to tonight. He put Americans through a great deal of suffering. Shame on him.
DEAN: OK, I want to come back to both of you, but we do have our chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, who is standing by, who can give us some of the more logistics and details about all of this.
Manu, we're watching the Senate floor as we're talking with you. I'm curious to watch which Democrats obviously are going to -- going to side with Republicans. What are you watching for and what happens now? [20:35:01]
RAJU: Yes. And that's why I'm actually looking at my phone right now because I'm getting texts, I'm seeing statements, about various Democrats who are -- how they will vote on this, because that is the big question. That is what we are watching at this critical moment, whether or not there will be enough Democrats, they would need eight Democrats assuming Rand Paul of Kentucky, the Republican, votes no, as he has voted 14 times already with Democrats to block the funding bill to reopen the government, which means in the 5347 Senate eight Democrats will be necessary.
We already know three Democrats are yes votes. Those are Senator King, Senator Cortez Masto of Nevada and Senator John FGetterman. Those are the three who have voted yes all 14 times. But where do those other five Democrats come from? We do know Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, he has said that he is a yes. So then where are those other four Democrats? Senator Jeanne Shaheen, we expect her to be yes. That is that chips away at even further. And also Senator Maggie Hassan. She is a yes as well. We expect her to vote yes. She's part of this negotiation.
So right there you have six Democratic senators. But can they get those extra two? There are all indications that they will, based on our reporting and our sources and the vibes in the hallways of the Capitol. But I have not seen those other two yet. I just got a statement from Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, and I just am reading this now for the first time. He says that he's going to vote no on this proposal. He's someone I was also looking at. He's running for governor in Colorado. We'll see. So he is a no on this.
Interestingly, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has represents the state with the largest number of federal workers, people, of course, who have been furloughed and are not getting paychecks because of this very damaging government shutdown. He's a yes. But his counterpart in Virginia, Mark Warner, is a no. So that is one thing to watch. I'll be interested also to see Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, the most vulnerable Democratic senator in the United States Senate. Will he vote yes on this bill? That will be something to watch.
Senator Raphael Warnock, his counterpart in Georgia, who had voted on another funding related measure, voted yes on that. So will he vote yes on this? Those are some of the big questions we're going to be looking at here. But still there is a belief that this will pass tonight. So then -- now this will pass the first hurdle tonight I should say. The question is going to be when will final passage ultimately be?
Remember the United States Senate, any one senator can delay final passage for some time. If they really wanted to do it, it could go through several more procedural hoops. It could take potentially all week to get to final passage. But I am getting the vibe in talking to a lot of senators and sources in the halls. That is not the expectation. After this gets 60 votes to clear that first critical hurdle, we expect things to move relatively quickly. Now, does that mean final passage in the Senate tonight? It could. It
could also delay until tomorrow potentially and the like. They do need to reach an agreement of all 100 senators once it passes this critical threshold in order to schedule a final vote on final passage. Otherwise, they have to keep jumping through procedural hurdle after procedural hurdle, which could take days in order to reopen the government.
I don't expect that. I do expect a deal to have a vote quickly after this vote is done. How quickly? Either tonight or tomorrow is my expectation. Reading the tea leaves, nothing is locked in stone yet. And then what will the House do? How quickly will they get back? Mike Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since September 19th, has indicated that he would bring the House back within 48 hours of any agreement.
So expect potentially we could see the government reopening by the middle of this week, by Wednesday or so, which of course will be a relief for so many Americans hurt from different aspects of this damaging and historically long government shutdown -- Jess.
DEAN: Yes. This could be very, very big. If you do see that government, if you do see the government reopen sometime mid-week.
One more thing, Manu. As you mentioned the House, the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said just a little bit ago, he wants to fight, that he and others will fight this bipartisan deal. And it really gets at what we, Karen and David and I were talking about earlier, which is just how at odds the Democrats are on this. They're not unified.
RAJU: Yes, it is pretty remarkable to see something of this magnitude passing without the support of House and Senate Democratic leaders. Remember what happened back in March when the government would -- was kept open on a funding deal through September 30th? At that point, Hakeem Jeffries, similarly, was very much a no, dead set against it, on a whole host of provisions in there to try to constrain Donald Trump.
Chuck Schumer was a yes, and they were on the opposite sides of this. And Schumer got absolutely pummeled by House Democrats. At that point, Jeffries wouldn't even say if he had confidence in Schumer. A lot of questions about Schumer's own standing within his own party. This time, Schumer came in very clearly with the mindset he was going to be in lockstep with Hakeem Jeffries, and they have been in lockstep all along.
But what we have seen is a rank-and-file senators, and particularly senators who sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds the whole federal government.
[20:40:03]
Some of the more moderate, more centrist senators, some former governor types, the ones who have come to the recognition their belief that this can't go on any longer. They have to compromise on their chief demand about getting this all tied to an extension of health care subsidies. But the political dynamics facing the leaders on both sides, where they are both voting no, shows where the party is. A vast majority of Democrats in the House and Senate are expected to vote against this because they believe the bill does not do anything to address their root concern here, which is skyrocketing health care costs.
But there are enough Democrats, a handful of Democrats who say enough is enough. It's time to end the shutdown. Shows you the Democratic leaders on the on the side of their base, but they're getting essentially rolled by the middle of their caucuses.
DEAN: Yes. Manu, also, Dick Durbin saying that he's a yes on this. I'm going to let you keep reading and doing reporting.
David and Karen, as we're watching this, look, Karen, the Democrats are going to have a chance now, in theory, to push Republicans on these health care subsidies. In theory, they have they have agreed to hold this vote. Obviously, there are plenty of Democrats who say that's not enough. They should have gotten these extensions built into any agreement that they would be voting on.
But how do you see them moving forward with this, trying to maximize that and really own this health care issue?
FINNEY: Well, I think a couple of things. I mean, first, I do want to take a step back and say, this is not, I mean, David loves to beat up on Chuck Schumer. But let's be clear, John Thune, you know, Speaker Johnson and Donald Trump have lots of agency here, too, and could have helped to end this a lot sooner as well.
I think with regard to the health care subsidies, look, the bottom line is pretty clear. If we can -- if Republicans can be so focused on extending those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, as they did earlier this year, surely we can find the money to say we're going to extend these healthcare subsidies, let's say, for one year, and over the course of that year, let's have a real agreement between Democrats and Republicans that they're going to find a solution to the cause.
I mean, when Obamacare was passed, it was always meant to be a starting point. It was -- the idea was, the hope was at least Republicans and Democrats would come together and work out some of these different pieces. And so I think if we can bail out millionaires and billionaires, why can't we help people afford their health care while we work to reduce costs?
And the last thing I want to say on this, I am in my late 50s, let me put it that way. I'm not going to give my whole age. Where is the Republican health care plan? We've been hearing about it for decades, and yet we've never seen a serious plan from Republicans on how to address health care, how to address preexisting conditions, how to lower costs. We've only heard things like under George Bush privatizing Social Security. That's not a health care plan, quite frankly. So again, I think part of the pressure here has got to be on
Republicans. They have got to come to the table because Americans have made it clear this is a priority.
DEAN: And again, what you're watching, David, I'm going to come to you in just one second. I just want to reset for everybody. What you're watching is a rare Sunday where the U.S. Senate is in session. Senators are voting on this first very key procedural vote to really unlock the path of many more votes after this to reopen the government. Anything that passes here would then have to go back to the House.
Speaker Mike Johnson would obviously have to bring it up, and it would need to pass in the House. But that is what we're watching right now. And the potential, the reason this is such a very big deal, of course, is because this could be the end of what is the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This could be the beginning of the end.
I want to bring Manu Raju back in.
Manu, you have some new reporting you wanted to share.
RAJU: Yes. You had mentioned Dick Durbin voting yes on this. He's, of course, the current number two Democrat in the United States Senate. And we are told that he is indeed a yes vote on this. And there are six and we are told six Senate Democrats have so far voted yes, according to our colleagues who are in the chamber, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett, who are watching the senators.
Remember, we don't get the live count here in the Senate. We actually have to go into the chamber and watch these senators cast a vote. And then this is all done by paper tally in the United States Senate, an antiquated chamber it is, unlike the House which you can do things digitally put in your electronic voting card. And you can vote like that. Not in the Senate. They actually are doing it member by member checking yes and checking no.
And we have six Democratic senators. And that number is important. We do need to get to eight Democratic senators in order to reach that magic number of 60 and of so far, we are told that it is the people who are voting yes, six, are Dick Durbin, Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, her fellow New Hampshire Democrat, Maggie Hassan, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Angus King of Maine.
[20:45:16]
So King,, Cortez Masto, and John Fetterman, who has not yet voted here, were the three who voted -- who have voted to advance this bill 14 times. So we expected those three to vote for it. And as we reported, Angus King was part of this negotiation as well as Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan. So the addition of Dick Durbin is the one new piece of information that we have here.
I did talk to Dick Durbin about this debate, actually just a couple of days ago about whether or not giving -- getting a separate vote on the Affordable Care Act would amount to capitulation? As a lot of Democrats are saying tonight that this should have been tied to the government funding package to ensure this could become law and not be a separate standalone vote.
I asked him directly, are you not caving by doing this? And his argument was, look, this is the United States Senate. We have to compromise. And he said, in his view, Democrats are winning on this issue. We have raised this into a national campaign issue right now. And they believe that it worked for them. Last Tuesday as a health care, when they won in number of races last Tuesday. And also, he believes it will be a winning issue in the midterm elections next year.
So that is going to be the debate. Listen to that line of argument, Jessica, from Democrats after the Democrats who vote for this bill, they're going to be in the minority of their party. They're going to say, we have done what we could do on health care. We're winning on this debate. We're going to continue to fight this in the months ahead. And that will be paid dividends next November.
That's the argument for Dick Durbin. Perhaps one reason why he ultimately decided to vote for this bill. He's also retiring, too, at the end of next year. So he's insulated from some of those political pressures on the left. But significantly, he is one more vote towards the magic number of eight, which will be needed to get 60 votes to clear this critical hurdle, which would eventually lead to the reopening of the government -- Jess.
DEAN: All right. So we are waiting to see if the Democrats can get two more.
Manu, stand by. I know you'll be watching that as it comes in.
David, I want to pick back up with you on that. On that note, Karen was kind of making this point and Manu was talking about it as well, about the issue of health care and where Republicans are on that issue. Do you agree? Will you accept that Democrats are winning on the issue of health care at this moment?
URBAN: No, nobody is winning at this moment. The government is shut down. So nobody is winning, I think, listen, again, do health care costs have to go down? Yes. The Democratic bill to simply provide subsidies does nothing to address burgeoning health care costs. Their bill is simply throw more money at it. So I agree with Karen's earlier point. The Democrat and Republicans in that chamber and in the House chamber need to sit down and try to figure out how to bend the cost curve and make it more affordable for Americans.
I think that Manu, you know, as he looking at vote counting, you know, I'd be surprised if some of those members who have four or five or six years left in their term weren't yeses because they're completely insulated from the, you know, the day-to-day throes of politics. But this is a tough issue. All Americans need to have health care costs go down. Their costs are exorbitant. And so Republicans want to see this happen, the president said so in the Oval Office Weeks ago. He said he wants to see health care costs come down, but he wasn't
going to be held hostage by Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party. So I think, you know, Karen will see this and Democrats will see this play out. If Republicans do not deliver, if they do not sit down and negotiate in good faith, they will be held accountable at the election -- during the next election. So it is incumbent and it benefits Republicans to help drive down those costs.
But the answer, Republicans don't think, is just throw more money at it without addressing the underlying costs.
DEAN: David, to your point, a senator who was just reelected in 2024, Jacky Rosen, I want to go back to Manu Raju on Jacky Rosen from Nevada.
Manu, tell us more about how she's voting.
RAJU: Yes. She's voting yes. And look, the Senate is about to get the 60 votes that will be necessary to clear this initial hurdle that will eventually lead to the reopening of the government. A huge, huge breakthrough after weeks of gridlock and so much pain for so many Americans as this damaging government shutdown, the longest in American history now is close to ending. Jacky Rosen's vote is significant because she is the seventh Democrat who said was voting yes. And John Fetterman, who has voted yes 14 times and plans to vote yes tonight, has not yet voted.
And so when he comes to the chamber, he will be the eighth Democratic vote. And that is important because they need at least eight in order to get to 60 we believe if Rand Paul, as expected, the Republican votes no for this plan.
[20:55:08]
We could see another couple Democrats voting yes as well. Watch for some of the Georgia senators, how they ultimately vote. But I have been hearing potentially up to around 10 or so Democrats could vote for this plan here. But a major moment with Jacky Rosen voting yes. She's a Nevada Democrat. Her Nevada Democratic counterpart, Catherine Cortez Masto, had voted yes time and time again on this bill.
She had raised concerns. She had told me repeatedly, I am not going to hurt one group of people, meaning federal workers and others hurt by government shutdown, to try to help another group of people, such as the people who could lose their subsidies over Obamacare. She said keep the government open, negotiate on these health care issues separately. That had been Catherine Cortez Masto's position.
Jacky Rosen was in line with her party on the health care demands, wanted to get tied to this underlying bill, but she also recognized the impact that the shutdown was having back in her home state in Nevada on tourism and the like and the federal employees as well, and ultimately voting yes. So a big moment here. Seven Democratic senators, and we'll look to see. Fetterman just now voted eight I'm told that he makes the eighth senator. So we do have at least 60 Senate votes we expect here.
This vote is still open. It's always possible someone could change their vote. Don't expect that to happen, though. Expect there to be at least 60 votes. The supermajority to break a Democratic led filibuster and move towards final passage as soon as tonight or potentially early this week -- Jess.
DEAN: That is big breaking news coming from the floor of the U.S. Senate, as Manu Raju just reported.
Just underscoring it for everyone at home, it appears that we now have 60 votes, that eight Democrats have crossed the aisle and joined with Republicans to really unlock this next step, move forward with this key vote that will allow them to ultimately vote on this legislation that would end the government shutdown. It will then go to the House. So again, as Manu just pointed out, more steps to come. It doesn't happen with the flick of a switch, but it is certainly big news. And we are moving that way.
Karen, can I get -- do we have Karen?
FINNEY: Yes.
DEAN: What do you -- what are your thoughts as we now have reached the 60 threshold?
FINNEY: Yes. Look, it is good for those who have been going without a paycheck. And I think David and I are in radical agreement that there has been a lot of pain and suffering over this period of time. It is good if it means that air traffic, we still have to deal, by the way, with the lack of the number of air traffic controllers. But I certainly hope this means that certain things start to get back to normal.
But it does not change the fact that, you know, we had this very brutal rescissions package earlier this year. It does not change the fact that health care costs are out of control. It does not change the fact that we saw a president who was willing to fight against having to provide SNAP benefits to people. He would rather let people starve than actually find the money to take care of his own people, the American people.
So, you know, I guess it's really a mixed bag. And I'm not surprised that, you know, there -- I was hearing over the weekend that there was a handful of Democrats, sort of centrist Dems, who just were feeling pressure and feeling like they wanted to just reopen the government, regardless of what Leader Schumer or others may have been thinking.
DEAN: Yes. And just to remind everyone, as we heard from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, he did not vote to advance this. His number two, Dick Durbin, who Manu noted is retiring soon, did vote to advance it. So interesting to see kind of what leadership is doing there. And Hakeem Jeffries, who leads House Democrats, has said that he's going to fight this. So it will be interesting to see, that's a whole another can of worms is what happens when this goes to the House. David, your thoughts kind of as we -- as we watch this unfold and we
now have again reached this number of 60. The Democrat filibuster has been broken.
URBAN: Well, listen, number one, I just want to say congratulations to John Fetterman for being principled throughout this entire this debacle. You know, from Pennsylvania, if you look at John Fetterman, if you look at his record in the past, you wouldn't think that he'd be a guy who was going to be so -- you know, when he came in, people in Pennsylvania were nervous about how he was going to -- how he was going to govern, what kind of -- what kind of senator he's going to be. And he's been an incredibly forthright stand-up individual his entire time in the Senate. And so congratulations to him for casting that 60th vote and breaking the tie here.
Number two, I can't imagine, Jess, just sitting at home right now if you are a federal employee or if somebody who's a SNAP, you know, recipient or a WIC recipient, now knowing that those benefits are going to flow, that you're going to get a paycheck now.
[20:55:04]
You can exhale. You cannot worry that your Christmas, your Thanksgiving is going to be ruined. You don't know where the money is going to come from to pay your rent. All those things are going to start flowing now. And that's a very good thing. And when the government shut down, that shows that it's a failure of our both parties, both Democrats and Republicans, to reach a consensus. So I think lots of people should be happy tonight. And again, congratulations to John Fetterman for breaking that tie.
DEAN: Yes. Karen, if you're a House Democrat right now, what are you -- what are you thinking? And it probably depends on what your district looks like, obviously, and kind of where you fall on progressive to centrist. But what are -- what do you think House Democrats are feeling tonight?
FINNEY: Well, I just want to infuse into this conversation that I heard you mentioned online not being, you know, the real world earlier. You're right. What I've been seeing online and frankly, in some of the group chats I'm in, that there are people who have, you know, gone without a paycheck who are saying, wait a second, what did I -- did I get health care? Did we get that done? Is that, you know, kind of questioning, wait a second, what are we really getting?
And I suspect that House members are getting those calls and being asked right now to explain what's in this deal. What is this going to mean? And I think, you know, again, as we look at the package of the three bills that Senator Thune was talking about that are going to also be presented and passed, the House is going to have to take a look at what's really in -- what the devil is in the details and what assurances, if any, because now the negotiating will go to Hakeem Jeffries and Democrats in the House, as you pointed out, to try to negotiate with the Republicans to see if they can also get an agreement, perhaps, or more. I doubt they will, because, you know, Johnson seems to do whatever
Donald Trump says. But whether or not they can get some kind of agreement for negotiations, a conversation, something with regard to lowering health care costs, because, again, I want to point out one of the things about this deal in the Senate, it is only in the Senate that has agreed to have a conversation about health care.
DEAN: Right.
FINNEY: There is not an agreement in the House. So that, if you're Hakeem Jeffries, if you're in leadership, you're looking at how are you going to put that front and center in the conversations that you'll likely be having in the coming days?
DEAN: Yes. And those will be interesting to watch. OK. Again --
URBAN: I would just say this, Jess, real quickly. Here's how they're going to present. Here's what Minority Leader Jeffries can say. It is a full year funding for the Veterans Administration and for veterans. Full year. Not a C.R., not a short C.R., but a full year bill. Full year bill for WIC, full year bill for SNAP. So if Democrats in the House vote against those things, shame on them.
FINNEY: Their health care cost won't be going down.
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: All right.
URBAN: But you're going to vote against those things as a Democrat? Crazy.
DEAN: OK. We do have to put a pin in it.
FINNEY: I'm just saying that the -- but is the House -- yes.
DEAN: I have to put a pin in it because we do have to get a break in. But don't worry, we've got plenty more on the other side. We will talk much more about this.
Again, you're looking live at the Senate floor as the Democratic filibuster has been broken. We have so far reached 60. We're waiting for the official count. But right now, 60 votes that would unlock moving forward with this plan to reopen the government on the Senate side. A quick break. More on the other side.
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