President Trump signed legislation late Wednesday ending the record-long government shutdown, resolving the 43-day closure caused by Democrats’ demand to increase spending on Obamacare subsidies.
Mr. Trump’s signature on the spending package means federal agencies could reopen as soon as Thursday morning, more than 650,000 furloughed civil servants will return to work, and more than one million federal workers who went without pay during the funding lapse will soon receive paychecks.
Hours earlier, the House passed a spending package on a 222-209 vote that fell mostly along party lines, except for two Republicans who voted “no” and six Democrats who voted “yes.”
The spending package funds most of the government through Jan. 30 with a temporary spending patch, known as a continuing resolution. President Trump has said he will sign the legislation.
The measure includes new fiscal 2026 funding for the legislative branch and the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs lasting through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, hailed the vote as ending “the long national nightmare” that Democrats provoked to appease their far-left base.
“It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end,” he said.
The shutdown led to the first-ever suspension of food stamp benefits and mass flight delays and cancellations, among other impacts on the general public who rely on government services.
It caused federal employees, whether working or furloughed, to miss paychecks, although Mr. Trump found money to pay the military. All workers will receive back pay once the government reopens.
House Democrats, angry at their party’s senators who gave up the shutdown fight against Mr. Trump and Republican policies, vowed to keep fighting to save enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
“Our promise to the American people is that we are in this fight until we win this fight for all of you,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat.
The COVID pandemic expansion of the subsidies caps out-of-pocket costs at 8.5% of household income. It covers families that earn more than 400% of the federal poverty level, currently $62,600 for a single person or $128,600 for a family of four.
Without the extra taxpayer-financed subsidies, those Obamacare consumers are expected to pay more than double for their health insurance next year.
“If you ask us if the shutdown was worth it, I say, hell yes, it was worth it,” said Rep. Shomari C. Figures, Alabama Democrat. “Because fighting to maintain health care for American people, there’s nothing more pure than that.”
Democrats are planning to file a discharge petition on a three-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies. They would still need a handful of Republicans to join them to secure the 218 signatures needed to force a vote.
Some House Republicans are interested in a solution but said a discharge petition is a tool of last resort.
“You never start with that,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Republican. “That’s the last option. You try to do things through the normal course.”
Mr. Fitzpatrick co-chairs the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus with Rep. Tom Suozzi, New York Democrat. With fellow caucus members, they proposed a framework for legislation to extend Obamacare subsidies for two years.
The proposal includes adding an income cap for the subsidies, which phases out at $200,000 to $400,000, and guardrails to prevent improper payments.
It is one of a handful of bipartisan proposals being floated in the House.
A bipartisan bill from two representatives from California, Democrat Sam Liccardo and Republican Kevin Kiley, would provide a two-year extension with an income cap at 600% of the federal poverty level, currently $93,900 for a single person or $192,900 for a family of four.
Rep. Don Bacon, Nebraska Republican, who co-signed both bipartisan proposals, said Republicans would not sign off on a clean three-year extension of the subsidies as Democrats are proposing, but they were interested in a compromise.
“There’s an interest to meet here in the middle. That’s what it’s going to take,” he said. “This ‘my way or the highway’ … ain’t going to work.”
Both bipartisan proposals would keep more Americans on the subsidies than if the pandemic expansion expires at the end of the year.
Although Democrats did not secure an extension of the subsidies, the eight Senate Democrats who voted for the spending deal received a commitment for a vote on the issue in their chamber by the second week of December.
They also negotiated the inclusion of a provision in the spending package that requires the Trump administration to recall the thousands of federal employees laid off during the shutdown and provide them with back pay.
The provision, pushed by Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, also prevents the administration from issuing any further notices of reductions in force through the Jan. 30 stopgap end date.
The bill’s full-year funding for the Agriculture Department ensures food stamp benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will flow uninterrupted for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
The legislation also replenishes the multiyear SNAP contingency fund to $6 billion. The fund was a point of contention in legal disputes over whether the Trump administration could pay some November benefits.
The agriculture spending bill also includes a provision championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and former majority leader, to prevent the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived THC products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations and corner stores.
Fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul unsuccessfully tried to remove the provision, arguing it would effectively kill the hemp industry.
The legislative branch spending bill includes $203.5 million in funding for the Senate and the House to enhance security measures for lawmakers’ protection.
It also boosts the Capitol Police budget by $46 billion to $852 million for fiscal 2026 and includes $30 million for a mutual aid program that reimburses state and local law enforcement for their assistance in providing security for large-scale congressional events.
House Republicans and Democrats decried a provision included in the spending package that would give eight Republican senators whose phone records were secretly disclosed the ability to recover half a million dollars in damages.
Mr. Johnson announced that the House will hold a stand-alone vote to strip the measure next week, but some lawmakers say that was not good enough.
“That does nothing to change the fact that certain senators will get paid an additional $500k of taxpayer money. The Senate will never take up your ‘standalone’ bill,” Rep. Greg Steube said on social media in response to the speaker’s announcement. “This is precisely why you shouldn’t let the Senate jam the House.”