A few minutes before 11:00 pm Eastern Time, President Trump signed the Continuing Resolution (CR) to reopen the government, effective immediately, on Wednesday, November 12th. The shutdown ends after 43 days, the longest in U.S history, after the Senate approved a new CR on the evening of Monday, November 10th, to reopen the government and continue fiscal year 2025 spending levels until January 30, 2026. Upon the Senate’s approval, Speaker Johnson called back the House of Representatives for the first time since September 18th to vote on the CR. Within hours of the CR passing the House, President Trump signed the bill into law.
Though the CR does not resolve the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidy extensions—the main reason for the shutdown—it does reopen the government, provides a promise to address the ACA subsidies in December, approve three appropriations bills, and provide backpay for 1.25 million federal employees who have been furloughed or working without pay since October 1st. The bill also withdraws the reduction-in-force notifications sent to over 4,000 federal employees during the shutdown. Most federal employees are expected to return to work on Thursday, November 13th.
Many Americans who have been impacted by the shutdown may not receive relief for several days, as the downstream effects of the 43-day shutdown will take time to resolve. Flight cancellations and delays will still impact travel, processes to issue federal payments, such as SNAP, will need days to bring them back online, and the backlog of federal services will take time to work through.
It is unclear at this time whether Congress will be able to resolve its differences on spending levels and Affordable Care Act subsidies by January 30th, but they have 79 days to approve the federal budget for fiscal year 2026.