Six Takeaways From the Senate Deal to End the Shutdown

from the NYT

After more than a month of stalemate, the Senate on Sunday took a crucial step toward reopening the government, when a small but critical group of Democrats broke from their party and voted with Republicans to advance legislation that would end the longest government shutdown in history

The shutdown is not over yet. Sunday’s 60-to-40 vote cleared the way for the Senate to formally debate the spending measure before a final vote. If the Senate approves it, the package still must be passed by the House — which has been on an extended recess and has not yet scheduled a return date — and signed by President Trump...

1. Democrats’ unity crumbled as the shutdown dragged on. 
2. Health care will stay in the political spotlight. 
3. Trump’s pressure tactics worked, even as voters blamed his party. 
4. Trump stayed on the sidelines. 
5. So did Republican leaders. 
6. Democrats notched a few gains. 

... Their biggest win was language that would restore the jobs of thousands of federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown and bar further reductions-in-force through Jan. 30, while guaranteeing back pay for hundreds of thousands of others who were furloughed, as required by law...

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