Between Seinfeld and “extortion”, agreement approved (barely): the strike in the USA ends

222 votes in favor, 209 votes against. Donald Trump hopes this scenario never happens again. Airports may still have problems.

The House of Representatives of the Congress of USA approved a agreement that puts an end to the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, which lasted for 43 diasafter disagreements between Republicans and Democrats.

The Chamber approved last night the bill that the Senate had presented on Monday to reopen the Government. The project was approved, but barely: 222 votes in favorincluding the favorable votes of six Democrats, e 209 contra, com two republicans (Donald Trump’s party) to join their votes in rejecting the project.

However, Trump has already signed the agreement in front of the chambers and put an end to the biggest shutdown in the country’s history.

At this signing ceremony in the Oval Office, the US president thanked the Democratic senators who changed their minds and voted alongside the Republicans. But he assured that he will not allow another “extortion”.

In fact, Trump wants this scenario “never happen again”, hoping that strikes will no longer be an option when there is no agreement in Congress.

Arizona Republican Party Representative David Schweikert summed it up: “I feel like I was in an episode of Seinfeld (series), We spent 40 days on this and I still don’t know what the argument was”, quotes the agency.

In practice, employees who have not received a salary must be paid very quickly. The situation we have is one that should not be resolved now.

US government funding is now valid 30 January 2026. If a new budget is not approved by then, there will be a new strike.

What happened so far

Deputies to the lower house of the US Parliament returned to the country’s capital this week, after almost eight weeks of absence, to approve an agreement that appears to have antagonized even more the positions of Democrats e Republicans.

Democrats wanted to include in the agreement an extension of funding for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare – which consists of health insurance provided to low-income households – ends at the end of the year and ended up being left out of this bill, with the Republican commitment to be discussed separately.

Given some reactions among Republicans, however, the commitment may be forgotten. “We warned you 43 days ago, from our own experience, that Government shutdowns don’t work“, declared Representative Tom Cole, Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

“They never reach the announced goal. And now guess what? You still haven’t reached that goal and you won’t reach it,” added Cole, in a reference to Obamacare.

If the strike had revealed the divisions between the two parties within Congress, the separation of positions became even clearer when lawmakers debated the immediate spending bill on the House floor, with Republicans accusing Democrats of using the suffering caused by blocking spending to prevail in a political dispute.

“They knew this would cause Suffering and they still did it”, said the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.

On the other hand, Democrats accuse Republicans of having rushed the approval of tax benefits at the beginning of the year that, according to them, mainly benefit the richest, to now impose a project that “leaves families at the mercy of fatewith no guarantee that there will ever be a vote to extend tax credits to help ordinary people pay for their health care”, in the terms of Massachusetts Democratic Representative Jim McGovern.

“It’s not over”

On the other hand, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear that Democrats will not give up on extending Obamacare, even if the vote on this project had not been favorable in this particular aspect. “This fight is not over“, said Jeffries. “We are just getting started”, he added.

The House of Representatives has not met in a legislative session since September 19, the day it approved a short-term measure to keep the Government running when the new budget year began in October.

Mike Johnson then sent lawmakers home after that vote and handed over to the Senate the responsibility for reaching an agreement that would guarantee funding for the Administration, at least, until the end of January, saying that House Republicans had done their job.

This agreement was reached by the Senate last Monday with the support of eight senators, seven Democrats and one independent. The law that Trump will now sign funds three annual spending bills and extends the remainder of the Government’s funding until January 30.

In exchange, Republicans promised to vote by mid-December to extend the financing of health subsidiesmore nthere are no guarantees that the promise will be fulfilled.