U.S. lawmakers to vote on possible end to longest-ever government shutdown

The U.S. Domiciliate of Representatives took a procedural tread toward conclusion the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. Story on Wednesday, advancing a stopgap funding package to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.

The Republican-controlled chamber voted 213-209 to move toward a final vote on the measure, with U.S. President Donald Trump's support largely keeping his party together in the face of vehement opposition from House Democrats, who are angry that a long standoff launched by their Senate colleagues failed to secure a deal to extend federal health insurance subsidies.

Eight Senate Democrats on Monday broke with party leadership to pass the funding package, which would extend funding through Jan. 30, leaving the federal government on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion US a year to its $38 trillion US in debt.

"My urgent plea of all my colleagues in the House — that means every Democrat in the House — is to think carefully, pray and finally do the right thing," House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who kept his chamber in recess for nearly two months as a pressure tactic in shutdown negotiations, told reporters earlier in the day.

"I feel like I just lived a Seinfeld episode. We just spent 40 days and I still don't know what the plotline was," said Republican Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, referring to the popular 1990s sitcom.

"I really thought this would be like 48 hours: People will have their piece, they'll get a moment to have a temper tantrum, and we'll get back to work."

He added: "What's happened now when rage is policy?"

House Democrats remain adamantly opposed, angered by the Senate deal that came less than a week after Democrats won high-profile elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City that many thought strengthened their odds of winning an extension of health insurance subsidies.

While the deal sets up a December vote on those subsidies in the Senate, Johnson has made no such promise in the House.

"They own the mess that has been created in the United States of America," House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who last week was elected as New Jersey's next governor, spoke against the funding bill in her last speech on the House floor before resigning from Congress next week, encouraging her colleagues to stand up to Trump's administration.

"To my colleagues: do not let this body become a ceremonial red stamp from an administration that takes food away from children and rips away healthcare," she said.

"To the country: Stand strong. As we say in the navy, don't give up the ship."

Despite the recriminations, neither side appears to have won a clear victory. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that 50 per cent of Americans blamed Republicans, while 47 per cent blamed Democrats.

A final vote on passage is expected later on Wednesday evening. If approved by the House, the funding package would have to be signed into law by Trump.

The White House said he supports the bill.

The vote came on the Republican-controlled House's first day in session since mid-September, a long recess intended to put pressure on Democrats in the shutdown standoff.

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