WASHINGTON.— After a bitter political dispute between Republicans and Democrats, which caused the longest federal government shutdown in US historythe House of Representatives approved on Wednesday night a bill to put an end to shutdown and sent the measure to President Donald Trumpwhich signed after 10 p.m. (local time). The paralysis generated widespread disruption in the country, with thousands of federal workers without pay, travel delays at airports and problems in the distribution of food to families in need.
“I just want to tell the American people not to forget this.”Trump said when signing the measure that ended the shutdown after 43 daysa message to voters that appeared to point toward next year’s midterm elections.
The president – who at the time of the signing in the Oval Office was surrounded by members of Congress – has consistently blamed Democrats for the shutdown of the federal government. There was widespread applause at the moment of the president’s signing.
“This is no way to govern a country. I hope we can all agree that the government should never shut down again.”Trump said, in a live broadcast.
The previous vote in the House of Representatives, with 222 votes in favor and 209 against, took place just days after eight Democratic senators broke their own party’s blockade and joined Republicans to allow the spending measure to move forwardwhich caused a strong reaction in their ranks.
It was the first time the House of Representatives had voted in nearly two months, as it had gone into an extended recess during the shutdown. The congressmen returned to Washington after almost eight weeks of absence, after the Senate approved the measure by 60 to 40 votes. Trump called the bill a “huge victory.”
In the House of Representatives, six Democrats joined Republicans to approve the measure, while two pro-government congressmen voted against it.
Democrats’ efforts to reopen a discussion on subsidies for health coverage -the axis that blocked the discussions- ended in frustration, when the Senate voted in favor of closure with the vote of eight members of that bench and the opposition of a single Republican.
The Republicans they limited themselves to promising a separate debate, in the short term, on helping millions of Americans pay for their health coverage.
The Rules Committee of the House of Representatives had announced this Wednesday the approval by eight votes to four of the law to reopen the government, which indicated that its final approval was likely in the plenary session to later be signed by Trump.
“We believe that this will be achieved,” the president of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, had anticipated, optimistic before the debate. “After 40 days of uncertainty and making the American people suffer unnecessarilysome Democratic senators have finally stepped forward to put an end to this suffering,” he added.
When asked whether he would guarantee a vote on an extension of subsidies from the Affordable Care Act (ACA, known as Obamacare) that expire this year, Johnson said that “Republicans would demand a lot of reforms before something like this would be possible.”
“History reminds us that government shutdowns never change the outcome, only the cost the American people pay,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
The House of Representatives had not been in session since last September 19, when he approved a stopgap measure to keep the government running at the start of the new fiscal year. Johnson sent lawmakers home and shifted responsibility to the Senate, saying House Republicans did their duty.
Democrats took the opportunity to accuse Republicans of being on vacation While federal employees were not paid, travelers suffered delays at airports and ran out of food aid. Johnson said his members were doing important work in their districts, helping their constituents cope with the shutdown.
The vast majority of Democratic lawmakers voted against the bill. because it did not include an extension of the Obamacare tax credits, that expire at the end of the year and make health coverage more accessible for millions of people.
“We cannot support the Republican attempt to dismantle the medical attention of the American people,” the Democratic minority leader had said, Hakeem Jeffriesfrom New York.
Monday’s vote in the Senate had the support of eight Democrats who distanced themselves from their coreligionists after reaching the conclusion that Republicans would not give in on the use of public funds to fund the extension of health care tax credits. Meanwhile, the consequences of the government shutdown grew by the day.
Obamacare, the health reform approved during the presidency of Barack Obamawas a first attempt to introduce universal public health coverage throughout the country. That coverage has survived thanks to the tax credits approved by the Democrats. Faced with the pandemic crisis, the former president Joe Biden extended and expanded subsidies in 2022 to help millions of Americans pay for that coverage.
This aid expires at the end of the year, so policies could rise considerably. Republicans argue that these subsidies should only help the most unprotected classes, and not be extended indiscriminately.
The deal funds three annual spending bills and extends the rest of the funding through Jan. 30. The Republicans They promised to vote on extending health care subsidies in mid-Decemberbut there is no guarantee of success.
Cole claimed that Democrats were being hypocritical by blaming them for the expiration of the tax credit for health insurance. “It is a subsidy on top of another subsidy. Our friends added it during the pandemic”, said. “The pandemic is over. They set a specific date for the subsidies to run out. They chose the date,” he added.
During the debates surrounding the government shutdown, Republicans also accused Democrats of wanting to benefit millions of undocumented immigrants with those subsidies.
The surveys showed that The majority of the population blamed Trump and the Republicans for the closure, since they dominate the White House and both chambers of Congress. But their parliamentary unity remained almost seamless, even as anger grew in public opinion.
Nervousness weighed more among some legislators from the Democratic ranks, who just a week ago celebrated a series of victories in their electoral fiefdoms, including the expected election for mayor of New York, in addition to achieving victories in the states of Virginia and New Jersey.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy He said that they should not have abandoned the fight for subsidies, and noted that voters who overwhelmingly supported them in last week’s election urged them to “stand firm.”
