The House of Representatives will be voting on Wednesday evening on ending the longest government shutdown in US history after a bill to fund all federal operations through January 30 cleared the powerful Rules Committee along party lines.
The lower chamber of Congress is expected to narrowly approve this measure, sending it to Trump’s desk and effectively ending a funding lapse that has left millions of Americans without food stamp benefits and snarled air travel around the globe.
Lawmakers on the rules panel debated the bill for more than six hours on Tuesday night, finally wrapping up their deliberations shortly after 1 am on Wednesday.
Democrats on the committee tried unsuccessfully to add an amendment pitched by House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries, extending ObamaCare tax subsidies. This was a key demand throughout the shutdown, for an additional three years.
The subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year and Democrats have warned people about the Affordable Care Act’s individual exchanges would see their premiums skyrocket.
Meanwhile, the Republicans took issue with a provision that would allow senators whose phone records were attained by then special counsel Jack Smith in his 2020 election investigation to sue the government and claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.