Political | Process

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

“House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,” Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

“I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,” Johnson said. “It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.”

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.