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- Congress has reached a deal to end the shutdown, reopening federal agencies.
- The shutdown stemmed from disputes over Affordable Care Act and Medicaid funding.
- Public services will return to normal, but federal workers still face uncertainty.
Congress has reached a budget agreement, setting up an end to the government shutdown after 43 days.
The vote passed late Friday evening in a 222-209 vote, with six Democrats backing the Republican-led measure.
The House passed a package of bills Wednesday night that will temporarily fund and reopen federal agencies through January 30after the Senate finally arrived at a deal on November 9. In the coming weeks, lawmakers will negotiate a longer-term solution to avoid another closure.
President Donald Trump signed the bill on Wednesday night.
Alongside securing general government funding through January 30, the stopgap bills set a budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the legislative branch through January 2026. The package also restores full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Congress' plan does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies — a major goal of Democrats during the shutdown — but leaves the door open for future negotiation.
The shutdown has directly affected Americans: Airports have seen major delays, safety net programs were unable to pay full November benefits, and federal employees were furloughed or worked without pay for over a month.
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What to know
The shutdown became the longest in US history, surpassing the previous record of 35 days in late 2018 and early 2019.
Senators gathered on Capitol Hill for a rare Sunday session on November 9, with enough Democratic members to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold, agreeing to a deal that would end the shutdown. The deal, which the House approved on November 12, also outlined plans to fund SNAP benefits for the next year, reverse the recent mass firing of federal workers, and guarantee back pay to employees on the government payroll.
Healthcare spending has been at the heart of the shutdown, with Democrats pushing to extend ACA subsidies — which provide healthcare cost relief to millions of low- and middle-income Americans — beyond their December 31 expiration date. Under Wednesday's agreement, Congress said it will negotiate on subsidies before voting in December.
Democratic leaders also hoped to reverse the Medicaid reductions in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but were unsuccessful.
"I am sorry that the American People are being terrorized by Democrats who have decided to shut the Government down to make me and other Republicans continue ObamaCare subsidies, which have been a windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American People," Trump wrote in a November 9 Truth Social post.
The House passed an initial budget agreement on September 19, but Senate Republicans and Democrats hit a stalemate the following week, largely over the healthcare funding dispute.
The government paused all nonessential operations at 12:01 a.m. on October 1.
How Americans are affected
The shutdown hit Americans' wallets and daily routines.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — which 42 million Americans rely on to afford groceries — ran out of funds to pay November benefits, and has been caught in a legal back-and-forth between states, nonprofits, and the Trump administration.
A federal court required Trump to pay November benefits despite efforts by the White House to withhold or only partially fund payments, though this move was temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Head Start childcare programs had their funds depleted during the shutdown. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid paymentscontinued as normal.
National parks, museums, and historical sites experienced closures and staffing shortages. Airports also saw major delays, with staff concerned that the shutdown would create chaos for holiday travel.
Airlines were canceling up to 10% of flights at major hubs in the last days of the shutdown — and schedules may take time to return to normal.
Business Insider has also heard from dozens of employees across agencies since the shutdown began, many of whom are concerned about their job security and ability to pay bills, even with the government reopened.
Select law enforcement personnel, including border patrol agents, deportation officers, and Secret Service agents, were paid during the shutdown under orders from Trump, as were military personnel and lawmakers.
With the government reopen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he expects that Americans' finances will soon return to normality.
"The shutdown of the federal government will weigh on economic activity while it persists," he said in the Fed's October meeting. "But these effects should reverse after the shutdown ends."
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