US House set for crunch vote on ending shutdown

THE HOUSE OF Representatives will try to end the longest government shutdown in US history on Wednesday, with a vote on a stopgap funding package to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.

- DAVID MORGAN

Republicans now hold a narrow 219-213 majority in the House. But President Trump's support for the bill is expected to keep his party together in the face of vehement opposition from House Democrats, who are angry that a long standoff launched by their Senate colleagues failed to secure a deal to extend federal health insurance subsidies. Eight Senate Democrats on Monday broke with party leadership to pass the funding package, which would extend funding through January 30, leaving the federal government on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion a year to its $38 trillion in debt.