The House moved a short-term funding bill through after a 42-day government shutdown, sending it to President Trump for signature and ending the stalemate that grounded parts of the federal government. Lawmakers hashed out a compromise that clears funding through January while leaving a hotter debate over healthcare subsidies unresolved. The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.
The measure passed in the House 222 to 209, with six Democrats joining most Republicans to approve the bill. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C. Republicans on the floor erupted in cheers as the tally was announced.
Many House Democrats chose to quietly exit the chamber rather than cheer the end of the impasse, signaling sharp partisan disagreement about the terms. The shutdown had already stretched on for more than six weeks and pressured members on both sides. Earlier in the process only a single Democrat had broken ranks in an initial September vote.
Democratic leaders repeatedly said their opposition came down to the collapse of pandemic-era health subsidies that expire this year, and they pressed for those payments to be extended. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., put it bluntly when he told reporters, “House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,” showing how central that demand was to their stance. That demand ultimately did not carry the day in the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson struck a different tone about the vote, insisting the end of the shutdown was overdue and avoidable. “I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,” Johnson said. “It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.”
Not everything in the final package was clean or universally popular with conservatives. Lawmakers objected to a last-minute addition that would let certain senators sue the federal government for $500,000 each if their communications had been swept up in an investigation. Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., aired concerns over that provision while signaling they would not let the disagreement prolong the shutdown.
Still, a couple of House Republicans stood their ground and voted against the final measure over that language and other objections. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., put it simply and directly: “I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,” he told reporters. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., also opposed the package and summarized a lesson from the fight when he said, “What Republicans learned is if their opening offer is Joe Biden’s budget, they can survive the shutdown. That’s the vote.”
Beyond the Capitol, the shutdown had real effects on travel and families that made the political stalemate painful to watch. Thousands of air traffic controllers and TSA agents worked without pay, and many took second jobs to keep their households afloat, contributing to delays and cancellations at busy airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits also faced uncertainty as program funding teetered.
The Senate fashioned a stopgap that included a deal promising the left a future vote on the expiring subsidies sometime in December, a move meant to secure broader support in the upper chamber. Johnson made no matching guarantee in the House, which left progressive lawmakers furious and skeptical about any future commitments. “What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?” Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday.
Republican leaders argued the shutdown produced little for Democratic priorities and did great harm to families and the economy. Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, made that point sharply: “They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,” he said. GOP leaders said the short-term fix buys time to finish appropriations work with a clearer focus.
The bill moves the funding fight to Jan. 30 and locks in full-year appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. “There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said. When asked whether the work will be completed on time, Cole said, “I think we can.”
