House votes on funding bill

The House of Representatives headed toward a vote on Wednesday night to end the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

The House cleared a procedural hurdle required before the vote could begin on a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government until at least the end of January.

President Donald Trump has said he would sign the bill.

The final vote to secure passage of the bill is expected to occur between 7 and 7:30 p.m. ET. The procedural motion passed 213-to-209.

At just around 6:30 p.m., an hour-long comment period on the continuing resolution to fund the federal government began.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers will split that time equally before the final vote starts.

The vote comes two days after the Senate passed the bill, after the Republican majority in that chamber reached a deal with eight members of the Democratic caucus to end a stalemate that led to the shutdown on Oct. 1.

Most Democratic senators refused to vote for the bill because it did not extend enhanced tax credits for millions of Americans who purchase health insurance coverage on Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

Under the Senate deal, Republicans agreed to allow Democrats a vote in December on a bill of their choice to extend those boosted subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of that month.

Without those tax credits, millions of Americans will see sharp increases in the cost of their Obamacare insurance plans.

The deal was reached over the weekend after days of news headlines about delays in air travel as result of air traffic controllers not showing up for work during the shutdown, and about the Trump administration seeking first to completely end, and then to only partially fund food stamp benefits for 42 million people.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., during remarks on the House floor, said some people will see their monthly insurance premiums “double or even triple” as a result, and that “more than 2 million Americans are expected to lose their health plans next year because it is just too expensive.”

DeLauro said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., “has shown no interest” in holding a vote on the ACA subsidies, despite Senate Republicans saying that was the plan.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said, “We never should have been here.”

“We tried as Republicans more than a month ago to prevent a government shutdown,” Scalise said. “We waited for 42 days where time and time again, Democrats, to appease their most radical base, voted to keep that government shut down.”

Scalise said “millions of Americans” have had to endure “pain and suffering” because Democrats refused to vote for a funding bill.

He accused Democrats of hypocrisy by seeking $200 billion in health spending that would benefit “illegals,” while “advocating to gut the $50 billion Rural Health Care Fund.

“It’s insanity,” Scalise said.

This is developing news. Check back for updates.