The US Senate is preparing to vote on ending the government shutdown

The US Senate plans to hold a vote on Sunday evening (November 9th) (morning of November 10th, Singapore time) to restart the federal government. Senators interviewed believe that this historic government shutdown, which has lasted for 40 days, is coming to an end.

Reuters reported that Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thun said on Saturday (8th) that senators plan to vote on a temporary appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives as early as Sunday evening, but only if the bill needs to be revised to merge a short-term appropriations measure with three full-year appropriations bills.

The temporary appropriation bill that incorporates a package of full-year appropriation measures still needs to be passed by the House of Representatives before it can be sent to President Trump for signature, and the entire process may take several days.

Senate Democrats have been resisting the passage of a funding measure aimed at pressuring Republicans to agree to healthcare reform, including extending the Medicare subsidy, which is due to expire at the end of this year, for another year. Under the agreement being discussed by the two parties, the Senate will agree to hold a separate vote on the issue of subsidies.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters that he would vote against the appropriation bill, but he hinted that there might be enough Democrats to support the bill to pass.

Sunday marked the 40th day of the US federal government's "shutdown". The record-breaking shutdown led to a large number of federal employees being laid off without pay, and food aid, air transportation and the operation of national parks were also affected.