Inside Katie Britt’s behind-the-scenes push to end the longest shutdown in history

One Senate Republican proved it is nonetheless attainable to bridge the aisle after ending the longest authorities shutdown in historical past.

The 43-day impasse in Congress might have ended within the Home of Representatives, nevertheless it was within the Senate the place Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., labored to construct an old school bipartisan coalition to revive the deadlocked Home.

It took a number of weeks, numerous conversations and rebuilding the damaged belief between Republicans and Democrats within the Senate earlier than a bipartisan package deal to reopen the federal government was handed.

HOW CLOSED-DOOR NEGOTIATIONS AND A GUARANTEE ENDED THE LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., proved to be a key determine in reopening the federal government. Her unique plan was to jump-start the federal government funding course of, one thing she got here to Congress for 3 years in the past. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs)

And it was one thing that Britt claimed in an interview with Fox Information Digital that she was uniquely positioned to do.

She was chief of workers to former Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and knew how the sausage was made within the higher chamber. She additionally had longstanding relationships with among the key Democratic negotiators, corresponding to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who finally joined most Republicans in calling for a reopening of the federal government.

For Britt, chairman of the Homeland Safety Appropriations Committee, the important thing to reopening the federal government was funding the federal government by means of spending payments.

“I am very grateful to these on the opposite aspect of the aisle who had the braveness to return ahead and say, we’re not going to permit on a regular basis Individuals to endure on account of this authorities’s shutdown,” she mentioned. “I believe what we noticed was lots of people listening to their political advisors moderately than the precise constituency they serve.”

“As a result of I believe lots of people clearly overlooked the truth that we had been right here as a result of we hadn’t handed the appropriations payments,” Britt continued.

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Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at a information convention with different members of the Senate Democratic management on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 15, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs)

Over the past session of Congress, the chambers had been divided. Republicans had a tenuous maintain on the Home of Representatives, whereas Schumer and Senate Democrats managed the Senate. Most of the spending payments drafted by the Home of Representatives had been usually partisan, whereas bipartisan payments drafted within the Senate by no means made it to the ground.

“Should you look again at Senator Schumer’s tenure as chief and the final two years, he did not even introduce one invoice final yr, which is what led us to this perspective of a CR to start with,” she mentioned.

Britt believed that transferring not less than a trio of spending payments might derail the state of affairs within the Senate and transfer lawmakers nearer to ending the shutdown. Whether or not that package deal of payments might in the end be linked to laws to reopen the federal government, nevertheless, remained elusive.

Whereas she praised each Senate President Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., for his or her roles in guaranteeing the funding course of really labored, her function as de facto arbiter started about three weeks earlier than the shutdown ended.

One of many key points earlier than and throughout the shutdown was an absence of belief that Senate Democrats had in Republicans, a problem that was reaffirmed when the Republican Occasion voted earlier this yr to claw again billions in funding accredited by Congress.

That belief drawback has been additional exacerbated by an absence of dedication from Republicans to stop the Trump administration from persevering with to slash federal funding with suspensions and revocations.

And the important thing second when the wheels began transferring towards a reopening got here when Senate Democrats blocked the protection appropriations invoice, which might have, amongst different issues, paid army personnel.

SENATE DEMOCRATS CAVE, OPEN ROAD TO REOPENING GOVERNMENT

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks to reporters exterior the Senate Democrats’ lunch assembly on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Nov. 6, 2025. (Invoice Clark/Getty Photographs)

“The query I had for every of them, , why? This got here out of the committee in a bipartisan means, and it was clear that they needed a broader dialog about how we deliberate to maneuver these items ahead,” she mentioned.

It was by means of these casual conversations that she moved to speak to extra Democratic lawmakers to attempt to allay their considerations about what would occur throughout and after the spending payments had been handed. These conversations took her all the best way to Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, DY, about whether or not he would approve the additional appropriations course of.

“Based mostly on that, I actually dug into conversations, each with individuals who I believed might discover a path ahead in reopening the federal government, and with individuals who did not,” she mentioned. “You recognize, I simply say, ‘Look guys, that is what we’ll do. We will work on funding these three payments. And once we try this, , that is the top results of it.'”

However as with every profitable laws, there may be all the time a numbers recreation.

Not each Republican within the Senate supported reopening the federal government, or not less than the means to take action, a degree Britt usually repeated. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had persistently voted in opposition to the Home-passed invoice till that time.

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That meant she needed to search for the numbers elsewhere within the aisle. Shaheen, who led negotiations for Senate Democrats, had her numbers largely underneath management, however there was another who wanted an additional push: Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Over the course of 48 hours, the weekend of the penultimate vote to seal the deal within the Senate, Kaine went from opposing the package deal to supporting it. Britt served as a liaison to the White Home, advancing Kaine’s calls for that the administration reverse layoffs throughout the shutdown and supply protections for federal staff, which the administration in the end agreed to.

However ending the shutdown was the primary hurdle. Lawmakers now have till January 30, 2026 to fund the federal government. Britt mentioned she would proceed to do what she all the time did: speak to the opposite aspect.

“I am hopeful that individuals will bear in mind what we have to do, and that’s work to go these payments,” she mentioned. “And I am positive there will probably be challenges forward, however , having a dialogue and dealing to interrupt the deadlock will probably be important because it arises to maintain America transferring.”