I have to admit I was amazed that a deal came together as quickly as it did this weekend given the Democratic attitude coming out of their caucus meeting last week. To me there was no way that this wasn't going to run at least another week when FAA restrictions hit 10% and continued to climb to the max of 20%. I figured that there was no way Members would let the government be shutdown the week of Thanksgiving due to the sheer chaos that would cause and outrage from the public against both sides.  

When I saw the agreement yesterday and saw that the Senate voted to break the filibuster I honestly had assumed I was missing some critical piece of information because the "deal" well it wasn't really a deal.... it was something that had been offered by Senate Majority Leader Thune weeks ago. At the beginning of the Shutdown when the ACA tax credits became the cause Democrats rallied behind Leader Thune offered to hold a vote on extending them one year in the Senate once the government was reopened. The "minibus" of three year long funding bills (Agriculture-FDA, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs) were something he was trying to unite Members on since it was going to need unanimous consent (everyone agrees) for it to be combined and voted on while the filibuster was in place.  

Since the filibuster was broken and it was then added the need for UC was no longer needed. The only true "win" that this package has for the Democrats is that the Reduction in Force or RIFs that were issued during the shutdown will be undone and the Admin cannot do any more until after January 30th, 2026.  

Eliminated the recissions that the Admin had been doing or undoing the massive RIFs from before the shutdown were not in this final package. The ACA vote.... not in the package. Essentially what we have ended up with is a product that was offered at the very beginning. The only addition I can find was the undoing of the government shutdown RIFs that the courts had already been ruling time and time again were illegal.  

This lack of wins is why the House Democrats have come out decrying the deal that there counterparts made and why Senate Democrats themselves are highly divided over this. At the end of the day though Republicans continued time and time again to show that they would not bend to the Democratic wish list and stood strong. What was agreed to with the "minibus" is really a win for everyone because they are year long bills and help return Congress to regular order instead of passing continuing resolutions over and over again.  

In the end.... Nothing changed and this shouldn't have gone on for as long as it did. Way to much time was burned up that we cannot get back legislative wise and that just shows how pointless it was.