The Senate passed a government funding package Monday night that is moving on to the House for confirmation.

The 60-40 vote came roughly 24 hours after a bipartisan group of rank-and-file senators, reached an agreement that officially broke a weeks-long stalemate.

PJ MEDIA

When Sen. John Kennedy talks politics, you’d be wise to listen. The Louisiana Republican never minces words, and last month, in the early days of the Schumer Shutdown, he made a prediction that turned out to be prophetic.

“It will end eventually when Senator Schumer goes to six or eight of his members and his Democrats and says, ‘Do me a favor. Vote to open it back up. I may have to criticize you, I’m not gonna vote with you, but I need a way out of this. I need an offering.’” He even warned, with his trademark wit, that Schumer would have to be careful not to make it look orchestrated. Because, as he put it, “if it looks contrived… he’s boned.”

Well, Kennedy was right. The shutdown ended Sunday after eight members of Schumer’s own caucus broke ranks and voted to end debate on the continuing resolution. The 60–40 vote drew a clean line in the sand: Republicans held their ground, while Democrats quietly folded.

The bill keeps the lights on for most federal agencies and guarantees back pay for furloughed employees, which federal law already required. Democrats didn’t get their wish list—no rollback of Republican Medicaid cuts, no extensions of Obamacare subsidies. Nothing. The only thing they accomplished was restarting the government they helped close in the first place. It seemed like they wanted a way out for some reason.

And, the Democrats who crossed over to reopen the government were not exactly profiles in courage. Every single one of them either plans to retire or won’t face voters for years.

[. . .] Republicans held the line. They got a clean funding bill, no concessions, and a Democratic retreat disguised as bipartisanship. The government reopens through January 30, but Democrats have nothing to show for the chaos they caused. They shut down the government, blamed Republicans, and then surrendered to the same deal they could have accepted weeks ago.

So yes—John Kennedy called it. Chuck Schumer found his “offering,” his quiet eight, the safe ones who could be sacrificed without consequence. The shutdown ended not because of Democratic principle, but because political reality finally broke through in the Senate cloakroom. Republicans stared them down and won. Kennedy might as well have read the script weeks ago.