
The record-breaking US government shutdown is nearing an end after a group of moderate Senate Democrats agreed to support a deal to reopen the government and fund some departments and agencies for the next year, people familiar with the talks said.
Under the agreement, Congress would pass full-year funding for the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Congress itself, while funding other agencies through January 30. The bill would provide pay for furloughed government workers, resume withheld federal payments to states and localities and recall agency employees who were laid off during the shutdown.
The chamber is set to hold a procedural test vote on Sunday. If that vote succeeds, the Senate will need the consent of all members to end the shutdown, now in its 40th day, quickly. Any one senator can force days of delay and votes. The House would then need to pass the bill for the government to reopen and Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will give lawmakers two days notice to return.
“It looks like we’re getting closer to the shutdown ending,” President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday evening as he returned to the White House.
House passage is not guaranteed. Democratic leaders have spoken out against any deal that doesn’t include extending expiring Obamacare subsidies, which this bill does not do. Conservative Republican members want a bill that would fund the entire government until next September 30.