After 43 turbulent days, the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history has finally ended. President Donald Trump signed a compromise funding bill late Wednesday night, November 13, 2025, just hours after the House of Representatives approved the measure by a 222-209 margin. The Senate had cleared the way two days prior, with a coalition of eight Democrats and one Independent joining Republicans to break the deadlock that had paralyzed Washington and rippled across the nation. The bill, now law, funds most federal agencies through January 30, 2026, while providing full-year appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the legislative branch through the end of the 2026 fiscal year.
The shutdown, which began after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement by the September 30 deadline, quickly became a high-stakes standoff over health care subsidies. Democrats initially held out for an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025, hoping the shutdown would pressure Republicans and the Trump administration to negotiate. However, as the impasse stretched into its seventh week, eight Senate Democrats—including Senators Shaheen, Hassan, Cortez Masto, Rosen, Durbin, Fetterman, Kaine, and King (an Independent who caucuses with Democrats)—defied party leadership and voted to advance the funding bill, dropping their key demand but securing a commitment for a Senate vote on the ACA subsidies by mid-December.
According to CNN, the legislation provides crucial funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), ensuring food benefits for nearly 42 million Americans through September 2026. SNAP’s contingency fund is replenished, and child nutrition programs—including free and reduced-price school meals—are fully supported. The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food assistance program receives $8.2 billion, a significant $603 million increase over the previous year. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which supplies monthly food boxes to more than 700,000 low-income seniors, is funded at $460 million.
For federal workers, the deal brings long-awaited relief. The bill guarantees retroactive pay for approximately 1.4 million employees who were furloughed or forced to work without pay during the shutdown. Many missed two full paychecks and a partial one. The White House budget office projected that some employees would see back pay as soon as Sunday, November 16, with the remainder receiving checks by Wednesday, November 19. In a gesture of gratitude, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Transportation Security Administration agents who demonstrated "exemplary service" during the crisis would receive $10,000 bonuses, in addition to their back pay. "We will be continuing to not only recognize employees across the country, but we will be looking at every single TSA official who helped serve during this government shutdown, and do what we can to recognize that and help them financially with a bonus check to get them and their family back on their feet," Noem said, as reported by CBS News.
The shutdown’s economic toll is still being assessed, but initial estimates suggest it was severe. Anderson Economic Group LLC noted that the economic impact in 2025 was worse than the 2018-2019 shutdown, with auto sales dropping 4% and beer sales falling 6% in October. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters that the Council of Economic Advisers estimated about 60,000 non-federal workers lost their jobs due to the shutdown’s downstream effects, and the economy suffered a hit of roughly $15 billion per week, totaling about $92 billion. Fourth-quarter GDP is expected to be 1.5 percentage points lower than it would have been without the shutdown.
Beyond the numbers, the human impact was felt nationwide. Tourists arriving in Washington found a city in limbo, with iconic sites like the Capitol, Smithsonian museums, and the National Zoo shuttered. "We got here and it was a ghost town. Cab driver had been waiting three hours for me. He had two jobs the whole day. So it's not just affected SNAP and TSA and air traffic controllers but the whole city of Washington, D.C., as well as America was punished, and I'm just glad that we're opened back up," said Rusty Doggett, a visitor from Raleigh, North Carolina, in an interview with CBS News. The Capitol Visitor Center, Library of Congress, and U.S. Botanic Garden all reopened to the public on November 14, with Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo following on a staggered schedule.
The funding package also includes significant new investments in security and veterans’ services. Lawmakers allocated $203.5 million for enhanced security measures to protect members of the House and Senate, $852 million for the U.S. Capitol Police, and an additional $28 million specifically for Supreme Court justices’ protection. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical care programs received $115 billion—a $2.3 billion increase—covering rural health, toxic exposure, caregivers, women’s health, homelessness prevention, mental health, and child care.
Importantly, the bill reverses several agencies’ efforts to implement staffing reductions during the shutdown and prevents further layoffs through January 30, 2026. This move restores workforce levels to their pre-shutdown status, impacting thousands of federal employees who had received reduction-in-force notices. The legislation also contains a controversial provision requiring the Justice Department and FBI to notify the Senate if a lawmaker is under investigation or if their personal information is subpoenaed, a response to recent revelations about the 2020 fake elector scheme investigation. The measure has sparked criticism from both parties, with House Speaker Mike Johnson vowing to introduce a bill to repeal the provision and some Republicans decrying it as a “self-indulgent legal provision.”
Another notable measure in the bill restricts the unregulated sale of hemp-based or hemp-derived products online and in stores, with the exception of non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products. This provision aims to address growing concerns over the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products, while preserving access to widely used CBD and industrial hemp goods.
As the government resumes full operations, attention now shifts to the looming battle over ACA tax credits. Millions of Americans face the prospect of higher health insurance premiums if Congress fails to extend these subsidies by year’s end. American Postal Workers Union President Jonathan Smith underscored the urgency, stating, "Congress must pass legislation by the end of the year to address the extension of the ACA subsidies so that regular, working people can afford critical medical care and prescriptions." Democratic Senator Brian Schatz echoed the sentiment, telling reporters, "What we have to make sure of now is that the health care fight lives outside of the appropriations process and doesn't depend entirely on the government being shut down. So now we have a fight in front of us."
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian reassured travelers that air travel would return to normal quickly, predicting a return to "full steam ahead" by the weekend following the shutdown. "It's incredibly safe to fly. It's the safest form of transportation," Bastian told CBS Mornings, adding that the return of air traffic controllers and TSA staff would restore reliability and safety to the skies.
With the government back in business and federal employees returning to work, the nation breathes a sigh of relief. Yet, the hard-fought compromise leaves unresolved questions about health care, worker protections, and the risk of another shutdown in just a few months. For now, though, the lights are back on in Washington, and Americans are watching closely as Congress prepares for its next big showdown.
