The Democrats who backed Republican shutdown deal

Seven Senate Democrats plus one independent voted Sunday to support the Republican deal to reopen the U.S. government.

The defections broke a weeks-long impasse in which the Democratic Party resisted pressure to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

At the time, the main reason Democratic senators refused to support the funding deal was the expiration of health care subsidies, which they said would hit millions of households.

So who is this group that sided with the Republicans, and what did they say to justify their switch?

The first thing to say about all of them is that none of them are facing re-election in 2026, and Virginia Senator Kaine is no exception.

Known to many as Hillary Clinton's running mate in the 2016 presidential election, he said he supported the Republican deal because it would protect workers and set the U.S. on a path to “fixing the Republican health care mess.”

It employs about 300,000 federal workers, many of whom are out of work due to the shutdown.

He said, “This legislation will protect federal workers from wrongful terminations, reinstate those who were wrongfully fired during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay, as required by the law I passed in 2019.”

The New Hampshire senator was one of the movers and shakers of Sunday's deal. She praised it as a way to restore bipartisan spending, including money for food assistance and health care for military veterans.

“Weeks of negotiations with Republicans have made it clear that they will not consider health care as part of the shutdown negotiations — and that waiting longer will only prolong the pain Americans are feeling from the shutdown,” she said.

Another New Hampshire senator, Hassan, told reporters that her constituents have been hit hard by the shutdown and are now bracing for looming increases in health care costs.

“My vote today was to do two things: both equally important and morally imperative,” she said.

Hassan spoke of the importance of a functioning government, “so that our children eat, so that our senior citizens eat, so that our air traffic controllers can get some sleep and earn money, so that they get paid while they work, so that our veterans are protected.”

Masto, of Nevada, has voted to reopen the government more than a dozen times.

“We have federal employees who are suffering,” she said after Sunday’s vote.

“We have controllers at airports. And we've seen lines at our food banks in northern Nevada. These were lines like I haven’t seen since the pandemic.”

Like Masto, Fetterman has been voting to reopen the government since last month.

The centrist Democrat representing Pennsylvania said, “After 40 days of consistently opposing our government shutdown, I voted to OPEN for the 15th time.

“I feel sorry for our military, SNAP recipients, government employees and Capitol Police who have not been paid in weeks. It should never have come to this. This is a failure.”

Rosen was not previously among the Democrats who voted with Republicans to reopen the government.

She clashed with Nevada's Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo after he wrote her a letter urging her to help end the shutdown.

Rosen said in a statement: “The concession we were able to get to move closer to extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits was a vote on a bill crafted and agreed upon by Senate Democrats.”

She was referring to the fact that the agreement approved Sunday includes an agreement for a December vote to extend health care subsidies that are set to expire this year, a key issue for Democrats.

Senate Republican Leader John Thune said last month that he had invited Democrats to vote on the subsidies.

Durbin of Illinois, who is the Democratic Senate whip, was the only member of the party's leadership to vote with Republicans for the deal. At the same time, he broke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce the damage of the shutdown,” Durbin explained in a statement. “Now that Democrats have achieved these victories, it is time for Leader Thune to make good on his promise to call a vote on the ACA. [Affordable Care Act] tax breaks in December.”

Durbin retires next year after three decades in office.

King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, helped negotiate a deal to set up a vote on tax breaks for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, once the government reopens.

He has experience working on a variety of fronts and has helped reach this compromise during meetings in recent weeks.

In a statement, King said: “The bottom line is that we are closer to being able to work on ACA tax breaks for the people of this country than we were yesterday and than we were a week ago, two weeks ago or a month ago. So this agreement tonight is a victory for the American people.”