The longest shutdown in history is over. A secret meeting ended it.

The Secret Meeting That Ended the Shutdown

The Wall Street Journal comments on The Secret Meeting That Ended the Shutdown

The turning point in the government’s longest shutdown didn’t involve President Trump or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Instead, after the Senate adjourned for the day and most reporters had emptied out of the halls, a small group of breakaway Democrats and an independent slipped unnoticed into the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).

The shutdown was nearing the one-month mark and the group was growing antsy as federal workers missed paychecks and food-aid programs ran out of money. Two nights before Halloween, the senators sat down with Thune, ready to reopen the government, people familiar with the meeting said. “It was a group of people trying to solve a problem,” said Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and helped lead negotiations.

The meeting—one of several—had been requested by King and other centrists, including New Hampshire’s Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, all former governors. Republicans in attendance were Thune and Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, also a former governor and senior member of the powerful appropriations committee.

The group told Schumer they were talking to Thune and read him into their discussions, but Schumer didn’t participate directly, according to senators involved. Schumer wanted to extend the shutdown, arguing Trump would eventually engage in talks himself and they would get a better deal—one that would address expiring Obamacare health-insurance subsidies that Democrats had made their central demand in the shutdown fight, people familiar with Schumer’s position said.

Longest Shutdown Is Over

Also consider Trump Signs Spending Bill, Ending Longest Shutdown in U.S. History

President Trump signed a spending package to reopen the government late Wednesday, a measure passed by the Republican-led House after a record-long 43-day shutdown.

The legislation passed the House on a 222 to 209 vote, largely along party lines.

The package extends funding for the federal government through Jan. 30 and includes full-year funding for the Agriculture Department, military construction and the legislative branch. The bill also includes language guaranteeing the reversal of federal layoffs initiated by the Trump administration during the shutdown in a move to pressure Democrats, as well as a moratorium on future cuts.

The resolution of the standoff ensures paychecks for federal employees, including air-traffic controllers, and sends hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers back to the job. But it postponed until later this year the central political fight: how to address the expiration of hefty healthcare subsidies that are set to be cut off for millions of households.

Republicans Own Healthcare Now

The fight over Obamacare subsidies is over. But the Obamacare extension idea is over.

That means Republicans own the problem and the solution. Good luck with that.

Republicans will get the blame for Obamacare price hikes. They offer Flexible Spending Accounts instead of insurance. Trump embraced the idea, but no one can explain exactly how it works.

Paul Krugman, AOC, and others are upset.

I commented Paul Krugman Is Very Upset with the Government Deal. Should Democrats Moan?

Krugman, Nate Silver, AOC and others are upset? Why?

All we know for sure is subsidies that went all the way up top 400 percent of the poverty level are over.

I fear the spending plan hatched by Senator Cassidy of Louisiana, and endorsed by Trump will be even more costly.

That’s my guess, but we will not know until we have details and then sew what actually passes.

For now, Republicans are bragging about winning, with Krugman moaning about losses. I think both positions are wrong. Click the above link for discussion.

Meanwhile, Republicans own the issue. Good luck. Seriously.

Also see The Great Federal Re-Opening of 2025, for a discussion as to when we have economic reports.

Importantly, the Fed looks to be flying blind on the CPI and inflation.

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