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The Whie House has a government shutdown clock ticking upward on its official site. The clock, as of Tuesday afternoon, is at 41 hours and change, but its days may finally be numbered, as the U.S. Senate finally found the 60 votes needed to break the stalemate and approve the continuing resolution to fund the U.S. government. Six weeks of finger-pointing, inaction and- at least for the constituents who rely on a range of services from food stamps to fully-functioning airports- agony may finally be over in mere hours.
WOR White House correspondent Jon Decker has been keeping tabs on the shutdown since it began in October. He appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to break down what the weeks-late resolution means for the country and Congress, and to sort out the winners from the losers in the aftermath of the logjam.
Decker explained for host Larry Mendte what happens next with the continuing resolution now that it has passed muster in the Senate: “It passed 60-40, and that’s because eight U.S. Senators, who typically caucus with Democrats, they decided to break ranks with their Democratic colleagues and vote to reopen the government. It provides funding for the government through the end of January. It goes over to the House; the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has already indicated he is supportive of this bill, which means it will likely pass along party lines, and then they’ll send it to President Trump for his signature, so the federal government [is] due to reopen by the end of the week.”
After the C.R. is signed and government programs return to normal, Decker says the biggest casualty of the shutdown may be the career of New York’s senior Senator: “This could indeed be [Chuck Schumer’s] final term as a U.S. Senator, let alone in the leadership ranks of the U.S. Senate… Right now he is not a fan favorite among Democrats, particularly progressives, and that is something he’s going to have contend with politically over the course of the remainder of the President’s first two years in office.”
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