Lawmakers in Washington appear to be on the verge of ending the more than month-long government shutdown with a vote in favor of a spending package that will keep things going until early next year.
The key challenge centers on the ability of the Senate to secure at least 60 votes to clear a filibuster on the spending package. Even with those votes, it is expected that it will take at least two days for both the Senate and House to work through the agreement.
That means, notes the Washington Times, that the government will not actually be reopened “until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest.”
A break in the long-running logjam came after a more than two-hour caucus of Senate Democrats seeing four Democrats willing to break rank. In so doing, those lawmakers indicated a willingness to negotiate with Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
When asked if this meant there will now be enough votes to move forward, Maine Democrat Angus King told reporters: “That’s certainly what it looks like.”
The deal, reports the site Politico, was “brokered between Democratic negotiators, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and the White House.”
Crucial to moving matters forward is the promise that at least eight Democrat members will vote in favor of a series of procedural motions to advance the funding package. By so doing, that would mean that the minimum 60-vote threshold will be met.
Once that occurs, only a simple majority will be needed for final passage.
The shutdown began on October 1 when Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation required for the 2026 fiscal year. To date, the House has approved a continuing resolution to keep the government funded, but the Senate has to date rejected any such resolutions.
The shutdown, which has resulted in the furlough of around 900,000 federal employees, is the longest such shutdown in U.S. history.
November 10, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Drawing by Architect of the Capitol
