US government shutdown nears end as senate Democrats agree to funding deal

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 Jan. 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.

US stock-index futures jumped in early Asian trading.

The Senate 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 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.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, whose state of Virginia is home to many federal workers, signalled Sunday he would support the deal, citing the bill’s ban on new federal layoffs through Jan. 30.

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 Sept. 30.

The face-saving accord also falls far short of the goals of House and Senate Democratic leaders, who had demanded an extension of expiring Obamacare premium subsidies and a repeal of Medicaid cuts passed by Republicans earlier this year.

Democrats secured a pledge by Republicans to vote on a bill to renew the Affordable Care Act tax credits by mid-December, according to a person familiar with the talks.

That promise, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune first offered weeks ago, was not satisfying to all Democrats.

“We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Sunday night.

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