Last Night, after 40 long days, the United States Senate advanced a key procedural step to reopen the federal government, marking the end of the longest shutdown in history. The Final vote was 60-40.
Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) announced in a video message Sunday evening that the Senate has secured the necessary votes to begin the process of reopening the government, but warned that the timeline depends entirely on whether Democrats choose to “drag this out.”
Mullin, who called the prolonged shutdown “ridiculous” and the Democratic position “absurd,” laid out the complex procedural path forward.
“We’re about ready to have our first vote to move to reopen the government finally,” Mullin said, confirming that at least 10 Democrats had agreed to vote for the initial “motion to proceed,” which officially begins debate on the bill.
The Senator explained that the plan is not to pass a simple, “clean” continuing resolution (CR) like the one the House sent over. Instead, the Senate will vote to amend it.
The new package will:
- Fully pass three of the 12 appropriation bills: Legislative (Ledge), Military Construction (MILCON), and Agriculture (Ag), which contains the SNAP program.
- Pass a continuing resolution (CR) for the remaining nine appropriation bills, which will temporarily fund them.
Once passed, this amended bill must be sent back to the House for approval.
However, Mullin warned that the process includes procedural hurdles that could be exploited for political purposes, potentially leading to delays. He noted that both the “motion to proceed” and the subsequent “vote to amend” technically invoke 30 hours of debate each, for a potential total of 60 hours.
He offered two potential timelines:
- Fast Scenario: If Democrats agree to “yield back” all the debate time, all three votes could be completed Sunday night. The House could then pass the bill, and the government could reopen as early as Monday night.
- Delayed Scenario: Mullin claimed some “Democrat presidential hopefuls… want to drag this out and like, plant their flag.” If they use the full 60 hours of debate, the final Senate vote would be pushed to Wednesday. The House would then have to come back to vote, meaning the government is likely to remain closed until Thursday.
“It’s ridiculous, because the vote’s already there,” Mullin said. “More than likely, they’re going to try to continue to hold you guys as leverage points.”
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