Congress Votes to End the Longest Shutdown in U.S. History

Congress passed a short-term funding bill Wednesday night, putting an end to the longest government shutdown in history. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the funding package immediately.

The government shutdown lasted 43 days.

In a 222-209 vote the House passed the Senate’s funding deal. Six Democrats — Reps. Adam Gray, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Jared Golden, Tom Suozzi, Don Davis and Henry Cuellar — voted in support of the bill.

Reps. Thomas Massie and Greg Steube were the two Republicans who voted against the bill. Steube said his opposition stemmed from a provision included in the Senate’s deal that would allow senators to sue the government for seizing their phone records. House Speaker Mike Johnson promised to hold a vote to reverse the measure next week.

House Republicans cheered as the vote total was called.

“What we learned from this more than anything is shutdowns don’t work,” said Rep. Kevin Hern, chair of the House Republican Policy Committee. “They don’t work for either side. Nobody gets what they want, and some would argue they didn’t even get anything close to what they want.”

Eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus folded Monday to vote with Republicans on an agreement that would open the government through Jan. 30, 2026, ensure backpay for federal workers and rehire workers the Trump administration laid off during the shutdown.

On Wednesday, the House passed the same package that included three appropriations bills, for Agriculture, the Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised Democrats a vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies in December as part of the deal, but Johnson has not made the same assurance.

Republicans were quick to declare victory.

“The only thing they got out of this 40-plus-day shutdown, causing the most food insecurity in the United States since the Great Depression: They changed the date on the CR,” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden said. “I’m very concerned the Democratic Party is going to repeat history and do whatever they can to gain political power, and do it right before the midterms.”

Most House Democrats were none too pleased with their counterparts in the Senate.

“We were very clear from the beginning that there would be people that would go without diagnosis, that would go without critical treatment, that people would get sicker, that people would die,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley said of the deal’s lack of health care provisions.

House Democratic leadership introduced a discharge petition Wednesday to force a vote on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits in a last effort to extend those subsidies, a key shutdown demand for Democrats.

The petition is unlikely to gather the 218 signatures required to bring the measure to the floor, though some Democrats are looking to moderate Republicans to support the effort.

“It’s my hope that the 25 or so moderate Republicans who said that they actually care about health care reform and their constituents will join us,” Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury told reporters.

The House’s vote series Wednesday marked the first time the chamber was in session since Sept. 19. The House is leaving town again the rest of the week.

The House has a full schedule ahead of it as it comes back into session, and leadership hasn’t been shy about advertising that to members. Newly sworn in Rep. Adelita Grijalva signed a discharge petition to force the release of the so-called Epstein files; she was the final signature needed to lock in the petition — something both the White House and Republican leadership tried to lobby against.

Meanwhile, there are still nine appropriations bills left for the House to pass. The body will have to catch up on missed hearings, committee markups and votes, including high-profile cancellations, like hearings with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel.

House Appropriations Chair Rep. Tom Cole put the onus on Democrats to come to the table and negotiate government funding going forward.

“That really depends on what everybody wants to do, and if the Democrats are really serious about negotiating, sitting down and really having that discussion,” Cole said before the vote.

After the funding passed, he sounded more optimistic: “We’re not as far apart as most people think,” Cole told reporters.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said that Democrats would consider voting against a new measure to fund the government when the continuing resolution expires if Congress does not come to an agreement on health care.

“When we come to Jan. 30, we will see what progress has been made,” DeLauro said. “We’ll see where we go, but you know, maybe that’s what the scene is and that’s what people want to see.”

Stansbury added that she also has doubts about Congress’ ability to finish the remaining appropriations bills and come to an agreement on the ACA subsidies before the late-January deadline.

“[Republicans] couldn’t even be bothered to sit for seven hours in a Rules Committee hearing last night and have a real debate about health care,” Stansbury said. “If we think they’re actually going to, in good faith, fix the American health care system in the next two months, I think that’s a load of bullshit.”

Others are holding onto hope.

“This is the most confident I have been in our process since I’ve been here,” Rep. Mark Alford said. “I see light at the end of the tunnel.”