In a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill, the long-running government shutdown appeared to be nearing a messy end, but not without exposing deep fractures within both major parties and raising serious questions about leadership, priorities, and accountability in Washington. The latest deal to reopen the government—hammered out by a group of centrist Senate Democrats and Republicans—has left many lawmakers and observers dissatisfied, and the fallout is rippling through both chambers of Congress.
On Monday, November 10, 2025, House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed reporters to discuss the tentative agreement that a group of Democrats had struck with Republicans to end the shutdown. But in a move that has become characteristic during this crisis, Johnson refused to take questions, telling the press, “There are probably lots of questions, but I’m gonna get a lot of my own questions answered later today, so, stay tuned for more,” before making a hasty exit. According to reporting from The New Republic, this has become something of a pattern for Johnson, who has gained a reputation for dodging tough questions about former President Trump’s policies and the ongoing chaos in the House.
The roots of this latest episode stretch back to the aftermath of the November 5 election, when Democrats celebrated sweeping victories in states like New Jersey. At that moment, the party seemed unified, while Republicans were taking the brunt of public blame for the government shutdown, now in its sixth week. Yet, less than a week later, Democrats themselves were splintering under the pressure of the ongoing crisis.
As detailed by The American Prospect, the unraveling began at a Thursday Senate Democratic caucus meeting, when party leader Chuck Schumer—despite publicly insisting that any deal must include continued Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies—privately encouraged a centrist group, known informally as the Gang of Eight, to keep negotiating with Republicans and settle for less. By Friday, Schumer announced a plan to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of ACA subsidies. That proposal quickly collapsed.
It was left to the centrist group, led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Angus King of Maine (an independent who caucuses with the Democrats), to push forward. On Sunday night, November 9, their compromise passed the Senate 60-40, with eight Democrats—Shaheen, Hassan, Cortez Masto, King, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Jackie Rosen of Nevada—voting with Republicans. Schumer himself voted against the deal, apparently to distance himself from the compromise, though few were fooled by the maneuver.
The deal includes a continuing resolution to reopen the government through January 2026, provisions to reverse layoffs of federal workers made during the shutdown, and immediate back pay for those who had worked without pay. It also provides for a separate, likely doomed, vote in December on ACA subsidies. As The American Prospect notes, the heart of the agreement is three appropriations bills with a few sweeteners, such as restoring jobs for federal workers and funding the Food for Peace program, which Trump had sought to eliminate. These measures were enough to win over Senator Kaine, who represents many federal workers, but not Senator Mark Warner, who withheld his support.
Not all Democrats were willing to go along. Several have vowed to continue fighting, planning to use procedural tactics to delay final passage in the Senate. In the House, opposition was even more pronounced. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, flatly opposed the deal, and House Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a strong statement: “We will not support spending legislation advanced by Senate Republicans that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson will be compelled to end the seven-week Republican taxpayer-funded vacation.” Only one conservative Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, has said he would vote for the continuing resolution, though a handful of others may follow.
Passing the continuing resolution in the House requires Speaker Johnson to reconvene the chamber and seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), whose recent special election win would further narrow the Republican majority. Grijalva’s arrival could also enable a discharge petition to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a longstanding point of contention. While House Republicans have mostly voted in lockstep with Trump, a few have shown signs of dissent, raising the possibility that the entire budget scheme could be derailed by a small number of deficit hawks.
Meanwhile, the shutdown’s real-world impacts have been mounting. As Emptywheel reports, the crisis was entering a new and painful phase: airport slowdowns and food stamp (SNAP) cuts were just beginning to bite. The Federal Aviation Administration announced plans to limit private jet flights at major airports—including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, and Chicago O’Hare—starting Monday, November 11, in an effort to ease the burden on overworked and unpaid air traffic controllers. The shutdown had already led to increased retirements among controllers, meaning flight disruptions would likely persist even after the government reopens.
SNAP recipients faced a confusing and stressful situation, with conflicting court rulings and shifting Trump administration directives leaving millions uncertain about whether they would receive benefits for November. While some states, such as Oregon and Wisconsin, managed to distribute payments, others remained in limbo. As Emptywheel points out, the deal’s inclusion of full SNAP funding was a key concession, but critics argue that Democrats gave up their leverage too soon, just as public pain from the shutdown was peaking and could have been used to force a better outcome.
The compromise also sets up a separate vote on ACA subsidies, but with the current House makeup, that vote is almost certain to fail. The timing of this vote—coming between the announcement of new, higher ACA rates and their implementation in January—means that millions of Americans will soon feel the pinch, and Democrats hope voters will remember who was responsible for the pain.
Looking ahead, the continuing resolution only funds the government through January, setting up another potential crisis in just a few weeks. And with unresolved issues like Trump’s tariffs—now under Supreme Court scrutiny—and the possibility of further economic instability, the political landscape remains volatile. If the House fails to pass the deal, responsibility for the ongoing shutdown could shift even more squarely onto Republicans. But if the deal goes through, Democrats will have to reckon with the fallout from a compromise that many in their own ranks view as a premature cave-in.
As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the end of the government shutdown, if it comes, will be less a triumph of statesmanship than a testament to the persistent dysfunction and deep divisions that define today’s Washington.
