Dem senator reveals deal that secured shutdown's fate — says it was 'worth it' to stop federal layoffs
Democrats didn’t get what they were looking for after pushing the nation into its longest shutdown on record, but to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that doesn’t necessarily mean they came...
By Fox News · Fox News
Democrats didn’t get what they were looking for after pushing the nation into its longest shutdown on record, but to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that doesn’t necessarily mean they came away empty-handed. Kaine said that although Democrats failed to achieve concessions on the emergency Obamacare COVID-era subsidies at the center of the 41-day standoff, it was the resolution’s language on federal employees that ultimately drew his support. Kaine, who brokered the bill’s prohibition against reductions in force (RIFs), joined seven other Democrats to advance the legislation. MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN "We reached a meeting of the minds at about 5:45 this afternoon. I walked into the caucus meeting with just a kind of deadpan face, and they were like, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘We've got the language we need.’" "Why did they finally give me the moratorium on mischief on RIFs? They needed my vote," Kaine said. Kaine said Republicans may have been more inclined to meet his demands on federal employees following Democratic victories on election night last week in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and California. The bill that cleared the Senate’s filibuster hurdle on Sunday would fund the government through Jan. 30. It also includes three of the government’s 12 year-long spending bills; language on the legislative branch, agriculture, and Veterans Affairs and military construction. It did not include any language on extending the expiring Obamacare tax credits that Democrats had demanded. Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wanted at least a one-year extension of those subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BECOMING LONGEST IN US HISTORY AS DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON OBAMACARE Instead, Kaine secured a guarantee that the Trump administration would not conduct any more mass federal worker layoffs — at least until Jan. 30. The…