"The Night of Sixty Votes - How the Senate Ended America’s Longest Shutdown"

It was just before 11 p.m. in Washington when John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, entered the chamber to applause. The last senator whose vote mattered that night had rushed straight from Dulles Airport to the Capitol. Still in coat and scarf, barely shaking off the jet lag, he walked through the rows, took his seat - and pressed the button. With his “yes,” the decisive mark was reached: 60 votes to resume budget deliberations, 40 against. The way was now clear to finally end the 40-day government shutdown.

It was no victory, no breakthrough in the traditional sense - rather the quiet exhale of a nation pushed to the edge of its endurance. Since October 1, the government had been paralyzed, hundreds of thousands of employees without pay, airports in chaos, food assistance blocked. Now, on this Sunday evening, what weeks of blame, press conferences, and tactical paralysis had prevented finally happened: movement.

The key came from the center. A group of moderate Democrats - Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Angus King of Maine - had prepared the ground. They agreed to reopen the government even without the guarantee their party had demanded for the extension of health care subsidies. A risky step that angered many Democrats but broke the stalemate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune seized the offer, praised the courage of the three, and said to the cameras, “The time to act is now.” A bipartisan coalition followed. Alongside the moderates, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and other senators signaled their support. Durbin said in a statement that he was thinking of the air traffic controllers who had been working for weeks without pay and the families whose food benefits had been left in limbo. “At Democrats’ urging, this bill is not the same one we voted down fourteen times,” he said. “Republicans finally woke up and realized their Groundhog Day had to end. This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce the damage from their shutdown.”

The Republicans needed five votes from the other side to clear the hurdle. Three came early: Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Then came Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, and finally - the late Cornyn. When he arrived, some colleagues stood, others applauded softly. Forty days of paralysis ended in a moment as unspectacular as it was historic. The agreement itself is a compromise of time. It provides funding for key government areas through the end of January, including food aid, veterans’ programs, and the legislative branch. Three annual budgets are to be passed immediately, and a separate vote on health care subsidies will follow in December - without a guarantee they will be extended. Dismissed federal employees are to return to their jobs, unpaid wages will be reimbursed, and states will be compensated for emergency spending. An add-on from Mitch McConnell bans the sale of certain hemp products - a symbolic, almost incidental clause in a law that says far more about the political condition of the nation than about its contents.

Among Democrats, the mood remained divided. Chuck Schumer spoke of a “Republican-made health care crisis” and said he could not “in good conscience” support the agreement. Bernie Sanders called it a “disastrous mistake.” But the reality of paralysis was stronger than any rhetoric. Even the progressive wing had to recognize that public patience had run out.

Trump himself, returning from a football game that evening, told reporters only, “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending.” A sentence without triumph, without pose, almost casual.

Of the eight senators - seven Democrats and one independent - who voted “yes” that night, two will soon retire: Dick Durbin and Jeanne Shaheen. The others, including John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, and Angus King, will not face voters again until between 2028 and 2030. Perhaps that made it easier for them to act against their party’s pressure. Perhaps they simply felt that political responsibility sometimes means choosing the achievable over the ideal.

When the result was read out, the chamber fell silent for a moment. Then some clapped, others rose to their feet. The longest government shutdown in United States history had reached its turning point - not with grand speeches, but with a late flight from Texas and a single, decisive press of a button.