The deal, negotiated by a group of Democrats and GOP leaders, funds the government through Jan. 30. If it passes, it will still need to clear the House, which will likely take days.
WASHINGTON — Senators struck an agreement Sunday, projecting confidence that it will be sufficient to end the lengthy U.S. government shutdown, three sources with direct knowledge of the details told NBC News.
The agreement, reached by a group of Democrats who teamed up with Republicans, should have the necessary 60 votes to clear the Senate, these sources said. It would then need to pass the House and earn President Donald Trump's signature to become law and reopen the government.
Even if it has enough support to clear those hurdles, the process is expected to take days.
The agreement contains a “minibus” — three full-year appropriations bills that will fund certain departments like Agriculture through the end of the fiscal year next fall — and a continuing resolution to fund the rest of the government at existing spending levels through Jan. 30.
It would also fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once known as food stamps, through next September, a major flashpoint in the shutdown.
The sources said the deal also reverses Trump’s attempted layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown through RIFs, or “reduction in force” notifications.
But in a major concession from Democrats, it does not include an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Allowing the funds to lapse would raise insurance premiums for millions of Americans unless they are extended. Instead, the Democrats settled for a promise that the Senate will vote on a bill to extend the subsidies by the end of the second week of December, with the outcome uncertain, two of the sources said.
Even then, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he won’t promise that the House will vote on extending the subsidies.
