WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding package to reopen the government after 43 days. It was the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Wednesday evening, the House signed off on the plan, which was approved by the Senate on Monday. The Continuing Resolution, or C.R., bill will fund the federal government through Jan. 30 and also contains additional provisions, including full-year funding for the USDA and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), services for veterans and the VA, among others. The additional provisions were tacked on by the Senate.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Republicans spent the day whipping the necessary votes given a very slim GOP majority. However, both Republican leadership and the White House remained confident throughout the day that the plan would pass.
Still, the shutdown continues to take a toll — nearly 900 U.S. flights canceled today, hundreds more delayed, and the Trump administration warning of further disruptions — just over a week before the busiest travel period of the year.
For weeks, SNAP recipients have been in limbo. The amount of time it takes for benefits to become available again can vary and depends on how each state administers SNAP.
The majority of Democrats are very upset at the eight Senate Democrats who sided with Republicans late Sunday night to strike the deal. For weeks, Democrats have demanded an extension for enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, boosted by the Biden administration during COVID. Democrats have repeatedly warned that allowing the tax credits to expire on Dec. 31 would result in skyrocketing health care costs for millions of Americans.
“Democrats are strongly opposed to this partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “They have zero interest in lowering the high cost of living for the American people, and Republicans have zero interest in addressing the health care crisis that they created.”
Republicans call it a major win that closes the chapter on what they have dubbed the “Democrat shutdown.”
“This was completely the Democrats refusing to get on board and put this across the finish line,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. before Wednesday’s vote. “It was a shame that they had made a decision not to let it go forward and to hold it out this long. I think that’s a travesty and it really hurt a lot of people. I don’t know what the idea behind it was. We had done everything that we could do to make sure it went forward.”
“We need to get back to full year appropriations,” said Rep. Bergman, R-Mich., after the evening vote. “Because any time you do short term anything, short term plans yield short term results, which leads to a greater chance of failure. Longer term planning, especially fiscally, needs to occur more here in D.C.,” said Bergman, who voted in favor of the package.
According to the White House, President Trump will sign the funding bill into law Wednesday evening at 9:45 p.m. ET.
