The US Senate managed to pass the procedural vote that allows it to advance a bill to unblock funds to reopen the federal government, after a record 40 days closed due to a lack of agreement. Just before 23:00 local time (04:00 GMT), the Senate secured the 60 necessary votes to advance towards a compromise that would allow paying officials and federal agencies, after seven Democratic senators and the independent Angus King (who usually votes with the Democrats) decided to break with their party's discipline to extend the budget until January 30. The Democrats who decided to vote in favor of unblocking the process in the Senate plenary explained that it was clear that the Republicans were not going to give in and that "there was only one agreement on the table and this was the best option to reopen the government". The agreement reached tonight, which still must pass other votes in the Senate and finally in the Lower House, will allow paying again the more than 650,000 officials who have gone without a paycheck for over a month and the retroactive payment, as well as funding the Agriculture departments (in charge of food stamps for the poorest), Veterans Affairs and other agencies until January 30. As part of today's negotiations, the Republican side assured the Democrats that in December they would vote to extend the subsidies of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which expire this year and had become the major obstacle to extending the budget. The leader of the Democratic minority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, opposed the agreement tonight and stated that while the federal government was closed, US President Donald Trump took the affected Americans as "hostages" by suspending the food assistance program for families, veterans, the elderly and children. "The health care crisis is so severe and urgent for families that I cannot support this continuing resolution (of the budget)", asserted Schumer, whose opposition was also shared by the progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren, who asserted that the agreement was a "big mistake". "I understand that some of my Democratic colleagues are not happy with this agreement, but waiting another week or a month more was not going to mean a better result", assured the Democratic Senator from New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen, who has led the negotiations with the Republican caucus to overcome the impasse. The Democratic senators who voted to overcome the 60-vote threshold out of 100, assured that one of their main objectives is to ensure that the Obamacare subsidies are maintained for millions of Americans who depend on them. This federal government shutdown has lasted a record 40 days and has caused the suspension of salaries for several hundred thousand federal employees, the closure of basic services, the non-payment of food stamps for the poorest, or long delays in airports and air traffic due to a shortage of controllers or airport security personnel. Faced with the lack of salaries, many officials have been forced to resort to food donations or take out emergency loans, all while a large number continued to work without receiving their paycheck. In addition, analysts were beginning to fear that the long halt in the federal government's ability to operate fully was beginning to have an irreversible impact on the growth of the US economy.
