 "Hillary Clinton attends Donald Trump's inauguration as the next President of the United States in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, US, on January 20, 2025. Reuters File")
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in her 2016 presidential bid against Donald Trump, became the eighth Democratic senator to endorse a centrist agreement that the Senate is expected to pass Monday, paving the way to end the longest government shutdown in US history.
According to The Hill report, Kaine’s chief concern during the negotiations was safeguarding thousands of federal workers whom the Trump administration had sought to dismiss amid the shutdown. To secure his support, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had to obtain the White House’s approval on specific language protecting those employees, added the report.
“We spent the day working on that language,” The Hill quoted Kaine as saying, describing the intense talks that took place Sunday.
He said, “We reached a meeting of the minds at about 5:45” Sunday afternoon.
Until that point, Kaine said there was no agreement with the White House on preserving the jobs of federal employees targeted by reductions in force (RIFs).
Just before a more than two-hour Democratic caucus meeting Sunday — where he announced his backing of the deal, disappointing some colleagues who preferred to continue the standoff — Kaine received the assurances he sought, reported The Hill.
“We had a caucus meeting at 6 [p.m.] … I walked in just with a deadpan face and they’re like, ‘What’s going on.’ I said, ‘We got the language we need,’” he said.
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View AllThe agreement to end the shutdown still requires House approval and President Trump’s signature, but both are expected later this week, allowing the government to reopen.
Democrats face internal backlash over the decision by seven Democratic senators and Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) to support a deal that omits an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Liberal groups have threatened primary challenges, and few House Democrats are expected to back the measure.
While Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised a future vote on the subsidy issue, its passage remains uncertain. Despite criticism, King and other Democrats who voted to reopen the government said it was the right decision, noting that Republicans showed no willingness to extend the ObamaCare subsidies as the shutdown dragged on.
“The position the Republicans have been taking all along is we’re not going to negotiate about the ACA as long as the government is shut down. Maybe in the first week we weren’t so sure they were for real. In the second week, third, fourth, fifth, sixth week, it became clear that the [Democratic] strategy wasn’t working. They weren’t going to come back and say we want to do something on the ACA,” King explained.
The Maine senator getting Thune to agree to a vote on extending the subsidies was a “big deal.”
“Otherwise, the Democrats have no way to get a bill to the floor. It goes through the majority leader. When he says, ‘I guarantee you a vote on a bill you write on a date you select, that’s a big deal,” King said.
With inputs from agencies