Historic Shutdown Nearly Over 11/12 07:09

   The longest government shutdown in history could conclude as soon as 
Wednesday, Day 43, with almost no one happy with the final result.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The longest government shutdown in history could conclude 
as soon as Wednesday, Day 43, with almost no one happy with the final result.

   Democrats didn't get the health insurance provisions they demanded added to 
the spending deal. And Republicans, who control the levers of power in 
Washington, didn't escape blame, according to polls and some state and local 
elections that went poorly for them.

   The fallout of the shutdown landed on millions of Americans, including 
federal workers who went without paychecks and airline passengers who had their 
trips delayed or canceled. An interruption in nutrition assistance programs 
contributed to long lines at food banks and added emotional distress going into 
the holiday season.

   The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate 
Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government -- food aid, veterans 
programs and the legislative branch, among other things. All other funding 
would be extended until the end of January, giving lawmakers more than two 
months to finish additional spending bills.

   Here's a look at how the shutdown started and is likely to end:

   What led to the shutdown

   Democrats made several demands to win their support for a short-term funding 
bill, but the central one was an extension of an enhanced tax credit that 
lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act 
marketplaces.

   The tax credit was boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic response, again 
through President Joe Biden's big energy and health care bill, and it's set to 
expire at the end of December. Without it, premiums on average will more than 
double for millions of Americans. More than 2 million people would lose health 
insurance coverage altogether next year, the Congressional Budget Office 
projected.

   "Never have American families faced a situation where their health care 
costs are set to double -- double in the blink of an eye," said Senate 
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

   While Democrats called for negotiations on the matter, Republicans said a 
funding bill would need to be passed first.

   "Republicans are ready to sit down with Democrats just as soon as they stop 
holding the government hostage to their partisan demands," Senate Majority 
Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said.

   Thune eventually promised Democrats a December vote on the tax credit 
extension to help resolve the standoff, but many Democrats demanded a 
guaranteed fix, not just a vote that is likely to fail.

   Thune's position was much the same as the one Schumer took back in October 
2013, when Republicans unsuccessfully sought to roll back parts of the 
Affordable Care Act in exchange for funding the government. "Open up all of the 
government, and then we can have a fruitful discussion," Schumer said then.

   Democratic leaders under pressure

   The first year of President Donald Trump's second term has seen more than 
200,000 federal workers leave their job through firings, forced relocations or 
the Republican administration's deferred resignation program, according to the 
Partnership for Public Service. Whole agencies that don't align with the 
administration's priorities have been dismantled. And billions of dollars 
previously approved by Congress have been frozen or canceled.

   Democrats have had to rely on the courts to block some of Trump's efforts, 
but they have been unable to do it through legislation. They were also 
powerless to stop Trump's big tax cut and immigration crackdown bill that 
Republicans helped pay for by cutting future spending on safety net programs 
such as Medicaid and SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

   The Democrats' struggles to blunt the Trump administration's priorities has 
prompted calls for the party's congressional leadership to take a more forceful 
response.

   Schumer experienced that firsthand after announcing in March that he would 
support moving ahead with a funding bill for the 2025 budget year. There was a 
protest at his office, calls from progressives that he be primaried in 2028 and 
suggestions that the Democratic Party would soon be looking for new leaders.

   This time around, Schumer demanded that Republicans negotiate with Democrats 
to get their votes on a spending bill. The Senate rules, he noted, requires 
bipartisan support to meet the 60-vote threshold necessary to advance a 
spending bill.

   But those negotiations did not occur, at least not with Schumer. Republicans 
instead worked with a small group of eight Democrats to tee up a short-term 
bill to fund the government generally at current levels and accused Schumer of 
catering to the party's left flank when he refused to go along.

   "The Senate Democrats are afraid that the radicals in their party will say 
that they caved," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at one of his many 
daily press conferences.

   The blame game

   The political stakes in the shutdown are huge, which is why leaders in both 
parties have held nearly daily press briefings to shape public opinion.

   Roughly 6 in 10 Americans say Trump and Republicans in Congress have "a 
great deal" or "quite a bit" of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say 
the same about Democrats in Congress, according to the poll from The Associated 
Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

   At least three-quarters of Americans believe each deserves at least a 
"moderate" share of blame, underscoring that no one was successfully evading 
responsibility.

   Both parties looked to the Nov. 4 elections in Virginia, New Jersey and 
elsewhere for signs of how the shutdown was influencing public opinion. 
Democrats took comfort in their overwhelming successes. Trump called it a "big 
factor, negative" for Republicans. But it did not change the GOP's stance on 
negotiating. Instead, Trump ramped up calls for Republicans to end the 
filibuster in the Senate, which would pretty much eliminate the need for the 
majority party to ever negotiate with the minority.

   Damage of the shutdown

   The Congressional Budget Office says that the negative impact on the economy 
will be mostly recovered once the shutdown ends, but not entirely. It estimated 
the permanent economic loss at about $11 billion for a six-week shutdown.

   Beyond the numbers, though, the shutdown created a cascade of troubles for 
many Americans. Federal workers missed paychecks, causing financial and 
emotional stress. Travelers had their flights delayed and at times canceled. 
People who rely on safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition 
Assistance Program saw their benefits stopped, and Americans throughout the 
country lined up for meals at food banks.

   "This dysfunction is damaging enough to our constituents and economy here at 
home, but it also sends a dangerous message to the watching world," said Sen. 
Jerry Moran, R-Kan. "It demonstrates to our allies that we are an unreliable 
partner, and it signals to our adversaries that we can't work together to meet 
even the most fundamental responsibilities of Congress."