Why some Democrats defected to end the shutdown

After weeks of holding out, a small group of Senate Democrats voted with Republicans over the weekend to start the process of reopening the government. Since the U.S. government closed its doors on Nov. 1, services like federal food assistance have suffered, and Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service help lines have paused as those workers face furloughs.

But Democrats had maintained that the pain was worth it, in order to extract more money from Republicans to fund health care subsidies for people who access insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Now, that demand has fallen by the wayside.

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with national political reporter and Senate expert Liz Goodwin about what it will still take to reopen the government, and why this funding compromise has further divided Democrats.

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Laura Benshoff with help from Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter.

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