House passes funding bill to end record-long government shutdown, Trump set to sign

The House of Representatives on Wednesday night passed a short-term funding bill that will end the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

The bill now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump, who is set to sign it into law. The White House has scheduled a bill signing in the Oval Office at 9:45 p.m. ET, just hours before the shutdown was set to enter its 43rd day.

“My friends, let’s get this done,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., shortly before voting began.

The vote on the bill was 222-209.

Two Republicans voted against it: Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Florida’s Greg Steube.

All but six Democrats voted against the bill.

The shutdown began on Oct. 1.

Government operations remained shuttered since because Senate Democrats overwhelmingly refused to vote for a funding measure that did not include an extension of enhanced tax credits that reduce the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans for 20 million Americans.

Earlier Wednesday night, the U.S. Department of Transportation froze the level of flight cuts it imposed in light of shortages of air traffic controllers during the shutdown. As of Tuesday, 6% of scheduled flights were cancelled at U.S. airports, and that level was set to rise to 10% by Friday.

The vote on Wednesday came two days after the Senate passed a new bill, after the Republican majority in that chamber reached a deal with eight members of the Democratic caucus to end a stalemate that led to the shutdown on Oct. 1.

Fourteen prior votes in the Senate failed to pass a Republican-backed House bill that would have funded the government until mid-November.

Most Democratic senators refused to vote for the bill because it did not extend enhanced tax credits for millions of Americans who purchase health insurance coverage on Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

Under the Senate deal, Republicans agreed to allow Democrats a vote in December on a bill of their choice to extend those boosted subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of that month.

Without those tax credits, millions of Americans will see sharp increases in the cost of their Obamacare insurance plans.

The Republican deal will reverse all shutdown-related layoffs of federal government employees and ensure that all federal workers will be paid their normal salaries that they would have received if the government had not shut down.

The package also funds the SNAP program, which helps feed 42 million Americans through food stamps.

The deal also includes provisions for a bipartisan budget process and prevents the White House from using continuing resolutions to fund the government.

CRs have been repeatedly used to avoid government shutdowns.

The deal was reached over the weekend after days of news headlines about delays in air travel as result of air traffic controllers not showing up for work during the shutdown, and about the Trump administration seeking first to completely end, and then to only partially fund food stamp benefits for 42 million people.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., during remarks on the House floor, said some people will see their monthly insurance premiums “double or even triple” because of the lack of protection for the added ACA subsidies and that “more than 2 million Americans are expected to lose their health plans next year because it is just too expensive.”

DeLauro said that Johnson, the House speaker, “has shown no interest” in holding a vote on the ACA subsidies, despite Senate Republicans saying that was the plan.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said, “We never should have been here.”

“We tried as Republicans more than a month ago to prevent a government shutdown,” Scalise said. “We waited for 42 days where time and time again, Democrats, to appease their most radical base, voted to keep that government shut down.”

Scalise said “millions of Americans” have had to endure “pain and suffering” because Democrats refused to vote for a funding bill.

He accused Democrats of hypocrisy by seeking $200 billion in health spending that would benefit “illegals,” while “advocating to gut the $50 billion Rural Health Care Fund.

“It’s insanity,” Scalise said.

This is developing news. Check back for updates.