By Juliana Vasquez | Staff Writer
The government is almost back in business. The Senate passed legislation Monday in a 60-40 vote to reopen the government and end the historic government shutdown.
The continuing resolution will fund the government through Jan. 31, giving lawmakers about three months to draft a full-year spending bill.
As someone interested in politics, Brick, N.J., first-year graduate student Holly Tkach said she was glad to see progress made on Capitol Hill.
“I’m glad that something finally happened and our service members can get paid,” Tkach said. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”
The current government shutdown is the longest in history, marking its 42nd day on Tuesday. The second-longest shutdown lasted 34 days and occurred in 2019 under the Trump administration, and in third, a 21-day shutdown in 1995 occurred under the Clinton administration.
The stalemate in the Senate was broken after eight Democratic senators voted with Republicans to pass the resolution.
Dr. Patrick Flavin, chair of the political science department, said the Senate was likely encouraged to make a compromise due to the ending of SNAP benefits and the impact the shutdown was having on airports.
“When the shutdown started to impact more people in their day-to-day lives, I think there were just enough Democrats who decided that that was too high of a price to pay and negotiated a deal,” Flavin said.
As of 2024, about 41.7 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, and airlines canceled and delayed thousands of flights due to staffing shortages caused by the shutdown.
Flavin said Democrats arguably had the upper hand in the shutdown after over-performing in key elections last week in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California. Yet the negative impact of the shutdown wasn’t worth the fight.
“The shutdown was no longer worth it politically for the Democrats,” Flavin said. “To advance the legislation they had more harmful effects, especially with SNAP benefits, [which] may affect their constituents.”
A compromise was needed, and Flavin believes legislators realized that as well.
“The most effective politicians, legislators, leaders can recognize that in a democracy, you don’t always get what you want,” Flavin said. “Reaching a compromise shouldn’t be viewed negatively. It’s how we govern.”
According to CBS News, the continuing resolution is headed to the House, and the final vote could be resolved Wednesday. If the resolution passes in the House, the historic shutdown will finally draw to a close.
