President Donald Trump signed a spending bill late last night that finally ended the longest shutdown in American history, and it begs the question: What did both sides agree to to get the country moving again?
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Here's the answer: Federal workers will start receiving pay again, and they will get back pay for the 43 days they went without. Those who were laid off will get their jobs back, including staffers at National Parks, so those will fully reopen. SNAP benefits are returned to previous levels and those checks will begin flowing again today, experts said.
The bill funds the government until January 30, when lawmakers will once again need to find a way to agree on the budget.
Basically, nothing changes from the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Trump had gotten approval for already, which adds about $1.8 trillion a year to the U.S.'s $38 trillion in debt. In other costs, more intangible, pundits are saying the fact that government was shut down may have helped Democrats win big in races across the country earlier this month.
Eight Democrats crossed the aisle to sign with the Republicans, a move that drew ire from high-profile Dems like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The vote was 222-209 in the House after the Senate had already passed the measure Monday.
The Dems were holding out for an extension of the an enhanced tax credits expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, known as Obamacare. For more than 40 days, they refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that while Republicans argued that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time.
In the end, the GOP got their way.
“We had a responsibility to develop, to deliver on health care subsidies, and the Senate failed to do that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Like many, she blamed Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for failure to reach a comprehensive deal.
Although unlike the rest, she's rumored to be taking aim at his seat in the next election cycle.
“There’s a lot of focus rightfully on Leader Schumer, but I do think that when it comes to the Senate, it is Senate Democrats that select their leadership,” Ocasio-Cortez told Politico. “And so I actually think this problem is much bigger than Leader Schumer.”
Meanwhile, five Democrats in the House have asked for Schumer to step aside in the Senate.
Trump told FOX News Monday that Schumer "thought he could break the Republican Party, and the Republicans broke him."
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