The Senate approved a bill to reopen the government and avert default Wednesday night, 16 days into a government shutdown and a day before the Treasury Department’s debt limit deadline.
The legislation, crafted by negotiations between the Senate’s two leaders, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, passed on a wide bipartisan vote, 81-18, despite defections from the chamber’s most conservative members who had hoped to defund the president’s health care law in exchange for reopening the government. The cloture vote passed 83-16, with 16 Republicans voting to filibuster: Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Dean Heller of Nevada, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jim Risch of Idaho, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and David Vitter of Louisiana. Two more Republicans, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, voted against final passage. Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., was absent.
It sets up a budget conference committee that could begin to negotiate immediately (or when the Senate returns to Washington on Oct. 28 after a long recess) as well as funds the government until Jan. 15 and extends the debt limit to Feb. 7. It also would provide back pay for federal workers, including pay for approximately 800,000 workers who were deemed nonessential and furloughed during the shutdown. States that used their own funds to carry on government operations would also be paid back by the federal government.
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