Senate eyes vote on potential breakthrough to end longest-ever government shutdown, fully fund SNAP benefits

WASHINGTON — The Senate could vote Sunday on advancing a potential breakthrough deal to end the country’s longest-ever government shutdown, fund the government through Jan. 30, and fully restore food stamp aid for 42 million people, among other critical programs.

Senate GOP leadership is tentatively eyeing a procedural vote on the deal later in the day Sunday, but the situation is very fluid, and there are parliamentary gimmicks progressive Dems could deploy to theoretically keep the government shut for a few more days even if the deal advances.

The deal features two major components: a temporary funding patch to keep the government open through Jan. 30 and a three-bill “minibus” measure to permanently fund government programs related to the military, veterans and Department of Agriculture for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.

Crucially, the minibus’ provisions on the Department of Agriculture fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which feeds 42 million low-income Americans.

SNAP funding ran out on Nov. 1, and the Trump administration tapped into the contingency fund to partially keep the program afloat for a few more weeks.

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Previously, the House had passed a stopgap measure to fund the government through Nov. 21, but it had been hung up in the Senate due to the 60-vote filibuster. The Senate deal modifies that to Jan. 30, 2026, which is why the House would have to take it up again.

Thus far, the deal does not appear to include codification of any of the healthcare demands Democrats have made, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has offered a December vote on extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, mirroring an offer he made weeks ago.

“Can I guarantee an outcome? No,” Thune told MSNBC last month, regarding a vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies. “I can’t guarantee it’s going to pass.”

Some prominent Democrats have already lashed out against the fragile deal.

“If this is the so-called ‘deal,’ then I will be a no,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) declared Sunday in response to rumors of the deal. “That’s not a deal. It’s an unconditional surrender that abandons the 24 million Americans whose health care premiums are about to double.”

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta similarly lamented that, “Any ‘deal’ that ends with Dems just getting a pinky promise in return is a mistake.”

The deal may also include language to hire back federal workers who were permanently laid off during the shutdown, Punchbowl News reported.

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The government has been shut down since Oct. 1 and has been shuttered for a record-smashing 40 days.

Senate Democrats had been using the 60-vote filibuster to block a “clean” House-passed GOP stopgap measure to open the government in order to extract concessions on healthcare, namely extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Prior to the shutdown, Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) indicated they planned to tackle the issue after funding the government and make reforms to Obamacare.

Understanding the government funding process

Congress is tasked with funding the government every fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, in order to keep it up and running.

Typically, this is done through 12 appropriations bills, though Congress relies on stopgap measures known as continuing resolutions to keep the government running on autopilot while negotiating those appropriations bills.

The “minibus” component of the deal in the works on Sunday includes three of the 12 appropriations bills. The stopgap through Jan. 30 is intended to buy time to pass the rest of them.

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Should the Senate overcome the 60-vote filibuster on Sunday, disgruntled Democrats could still throw down some procedural hurdles to delay the reopening of the government.

But the Senate filibuster had been the main obstacle to reopening the government over the past 40 days. Senate Republicans only have a 53-seat majority, short of the necessary 60 votes to break the filibuster.