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In today's issue:

▪ Senate reaches deal to end shutdown

▪ Trump pardons Giuliani, others over 2020 election

▪ President set to meet Syrian leader

▪ Israeli soldier's remains returned after 11 years

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The Senate has voted to advance legislation to reopen the government after 40 days of a funding gap following a breakthrough between Republicans and Democrats.

Eight Democrats voted with almost all Republicans to advance the legislative package late Sunday night, clearing the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster and teeing up a final vote.

The legislation will still need to pass the House and be signed by President Trump, which could take several days.

The Senate voted to open debate on a House-passed bill that would be amended to include three full-year spending bills funding military construction, veterans' affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch, along with a continuing resolution to fund the remaining parts of the government through Jan. 30.

It includes a reversal of the layoffs that the Trump administration has conducted during the shutdown and guarantees backpay for federal workers who have been furloughed or forced to work without pay.

The deal also includes a promise for a vote in December on a Democratic proposal to extend expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies by one year.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that a group of centrist Democrats, led by Sens. Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), negotiated the deal with Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and GOP leadership.

Shaheen worked with Collins on the funding bills, while King and Hassan played a key role in getting Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to promise a vote on extending the subsidies, Bolten reports.

The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are King, Shaheen, Hassan and Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (Nev.).

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) was the lone Republican to vote against it.

The overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats voted against the bill, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), noting the legislation doesn’t take steps to lower health care costs and the deal only includes a promised vote on health subsidies but no guarantee they will be extended.

“America is in the midst of a Republican-made health care crisis—a crisis so severe, so urgent, and so devastating for American families that I cannot support a continuing resolution that fails to address it,” Schumer said in a post on the social platform X.

Some of the votes against the bill came from Democrats who were involved in negotiations to reopen the government — Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.) and Gary Peters (Mich.).

Democrats broadly dug in saying they would not compromise in their demand for extended ACA subsidies following their party’s success in last week’s elections. That emboldened position guaranteed that the shutdown, already the longest-ever, would continue for days.

And with the president pushing Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to reopen the government without needing Democratic votes, an idea they’ve been hesitant to accept, last week ended with an even deeper impasse on government funding.

But Thune chose to keep the Senate in session through the weekend, and a breakthrough started to emerge on Sunday.

Progressives have voiced fury over the deal, after spending weeks pressing for the party to hold out for bigger concessions on extending health subsidies instead of a simple promise for a vote.

“This was a very, very bad vote,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a video posted to X, calling out the eight Democratic colleagues who voted for the bill.

“I’m voting no on the continuing resolution that would double healthcare premiums for 20 million Americans, kick 15 million people off Medicaid & allow 50,000 Americans to die unnecessarily every year,” Sanders wrote in another post. “All to give $1 trillion in tax breaks for billionaires.”

The legislation still needs a final vote in the Senate before it goes to the GOP-controlled House, which has been out of Washington for seven weeks and where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hasn’t made a commitment on a subsidies vote.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) preemptively declared his opposition to the deal before the Senate voted, saying House Democrats won’t support legislation that doesn’t extend the ACA tax credits.

If it clears the House, it would then head to Trump’s desk for a signature.

The opportunity to bring an end to the standoff comes at a critical time. Flight delays and cancellations have surged over the past few days after the Federal Aviation Administration reduced the flight capacity at 40 major airports throughout the country, citing safety concerns as air traffic controllers face staffing issues.

The Trump administration on Sunday ordered states to “undo” full payments to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November. This came after the Supreme Court temporarily paused a lower court order directing the administration to pay full benefits.

An order for the administration to issue partial benefits from contingency funds remains in effect. The back-and-forth had left those who rely on SNAP in limbo.

But Republicans scrambled for alternative ideas to reopen the government after their pressure tactics failed, while the White House began getting more involved in behind-the-scenes conversations with Democrats to find a path forward.

▪ The Hill: Read the full text of the Senate’s plan.

▪ The Hill: Air traffic controllers retiring daily during shutdown.

Smart Take with Blake Burman

The takeaway from last week's elections was loud and clear: The same issue of affordability that dominated in 2024 is still front and center for voters in 2025 and will likely remain through 2026. Over the weekend we saw two potential reactions from the Trump administration. The president posted about a tariff "dividend" to the tune of $2000.........

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