President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening signed a stopgap funding bill to reopen the federal government, ending what had become the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The closure, which began October 1, had left hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed or working without pay for more than six weeks and strained agencies across Washington.
The legislation, approved by the House earlier in the evening by a 220–209 vote, will fund the government through January 30. It provides appropriations for military construction, the legislative branch, and the Agriculture Department through most of 2026. Six centrist House Democrats voted in favor of the measure, while two Republicans — Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Greg Steube of Florida — opposed it.
The deal followed weeks of political gridlock between Republicans and Democrats in both chambers. The House had previously passed a stopgap funding bill in late September, extending operations through November 21. When that measure stalled in the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune repeatedly attempted to bring it to a vote, only to face resistance from nearly all Democrats in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s caucus.
Senate Democrats had withheld support as they sought to tie the funding package to an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which were set to expire at the end of 2025. Republicans, led by Thune, refused to negotiate on the subsidies while the government remained closed.
Throughout the standoff, Trump urged Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold to pass the bill without Democratic backing — a step most in his party opposed. But as the shutdown dragged on and public pressure mounted, several Democrats ultimately joined Republicans to end the impasse.
Late Sunday, five Senate Democrats — enough to overcome a filibuster — crossed party lines to advance the funding measure. They did so with few concessions from Republicans. In return, GOP leaders agreed to two provisions: reinstating federal employees laid off during the shutdown and scheduling a Senate vote by mid-December on possible Affordable Care Act subsidy legislation. That commitment, however, did not include any guarantee of Republican votes to advance or pass such a measure.
“There are a handful” of Senate Republicans “that are open to doing something and some sort of an extension with reforms,” Thune told National Review in a recent interview. But he added that roughly 80 to 85 percent of Republicans remain opposed to extending the subsidies “in any fashion.”
The final stopgap bill also contained a Senate-added provision allowing U.S. senators to sue the Justice Department for up to $500,000 if their phone records are seized without notification during federal investigations. The clause was inserted after revelations that phone records of certain senators had been subpoenaed as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In response to objections from House conservatives, Speaker Mike Johnson pledged to introduce a standalone bill next week to repeal that language. But Representative Greg Steube, who voted against the funding bill, argued the Senate is unlikely to revisit the issue. “That does nothing to change the fact that certain senators will get paid an additional $500k of taxpayer money,” he wrote on social media, adding, “The Senate will never take up your ‘standalone’ bill.”
The move to end the shutdown has exposed divisions within both parties. Many Democrats were frustrated that a handful of senators, including several retiring members, supported the Republican-led deal without securing a firm commitment on health care subsidies.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has filed a discharge petition to bring to the floor a separate Democratic bill to extend the ACA subsidies for three years. Over the weekend, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin praised Senate Democrats who opposed the package, while Senator Bernie Sanders called it “a very, very bad vote.”
Meanwhile, several prominent Democrats — including potential 2028 presidential hopefuls and 2026 Senate candidates — criticized Schumer for either permitting or failing to prevent the agreement. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent critic of party leadership, told CNN, “We are talking about a coordinated effort of eight senators with the knowledge of Leader Schumer, voting to break with the entire Democratic Party in exchange for nothing.”
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