Deal to end shutdown gains traction in US Senate as vote nears
People wait in line at a security checkpoint at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Nov. 9, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The FAA has targeted 40 "high-volume" airports, including Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, for flight cuts amid the government shutdown. (Photo by Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — A deal was within reach Sunday night to end the longest federal government shutdown in history, when it appeared enough U.S. Senate Democrats had agreed to join Republicans to temporarily keep the government afloat until the end of January.
The legislation to be voted on by the Senate would also unlock full-year funding for a vital food aid program that serves 42 million Americans and bring back federal workers fired by President Donald Trump when the government was closed.
It does not include language addressing skyrocketing premiums for those enrolled in individual health insurance plans in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, a major sticking point for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said late Sunday on the Senate floor that he commits to holding a separate vote on health insurance subsidies no later than the second week of December.
New text of a temporary stopgap funding deal released Sunday night would keep the government open until Jan. 30. The bill would also reinstate all federal employees who were fired after the shutdown began, restoring their jobs with back pay, and prohibit any further layoffs until the temporary funding expires.
As part of the agreement, three fiscal year 2026 funding bills will ride along with the package, including the appropriations bills for agriculture programs, veterans benefits, military construction and Congress.
Divided Democrats
Several Senate Democrats left a lengthy closed-door meeting Sunday night upset that the deal does not include anything to address rising health care premiums, on which the party has staked the 40-day shutdown.
Subsidies for those who buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace expire at the end of this year.
“So far as I’m concerned, health care isn’t included, so I’ll be a no,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin also issued statements following the caucus meeting declaring they would vote no. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also told reporters on his way out of the meeting that he’s opposed to the deal.
Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey said on social media he would oppose it. ”I’ve been clear that we need real action to stop the devastating health care cost increases that are hurting millions of families,” he said.
The Senate was expected to take a procedural vote to advance the deal Sunday night.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., issued a statement expressing support for the agreement, highlighting that Senate Republicans have promised a vote on extending the health care subsidies.
“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do. Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will,” Kaine said.
Government reopening will take time
The Sunday night deal, if senators vote to advance it, does not mean the government will reopen right away.
The legislation must make its way through Senate procedural steps and then gain approval from the U.S. House, which hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, attended the Washington Commanders football game with Trump Sunday night in Landover, Maryland.
Trump briefly spoke to reporters upon news of the deal after leaving the NFL game, telling them, “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending.”
Nearly a million federal workers have missed paychecks during the 40-day shutdown, and food benefits for the poorest Americans stopped flowing at the beginning of November.
Air travel has also become snarled as the shutdown has dragged on, and air traffic controllers are under pressure without pay. The Federal Aviation Administration began cutting flights Friday at 40 major airports across the U.S. The cuts are set to ramp up to a 10% decrease in air traffic.
SNAP funding
The deal includes provisions that Democrats say the Trump administration sought to shrink or cut altogether, including fresh fruit and vegetable subsidies for mothers with children and monthly food boxes for low-income seniors.
The legislation would direct $8.2 billion to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, otherwise known as WIC, a roughly $600 million increase over last year’s program amount.
During the shutdown, the administration used $150 million from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rainy day fund to keep the program going. The bill would replenish the contingency money.
The bill also fully funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and children’s nutrition programs, including subsidized school breakfast and lunch, and the availability of food during summer school breaks.
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Appropriations say it included “key funding for SNAP and other critical nutrition programs as President Trump fights in court during the government shutdown to cut off benefits for 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their families,” according to a bill summary.
The USDA directed states to begin releasing the November SNAP benefits onto recipients’ benefits debit cards after a Rhode Island federal district judge and circuit court ordered the Trump administration to do so last week.
Trump appealed the order to the Supreme Court, which stayed the decision. A department memo Saturday told states that released the full benefits to take back a portion of them.
The bill would also direct money to the SNAP emergency contingency fund.
Hemp ban
Hemp farmers are sounding the alarm about a provision in the bill that they say would “effectively eliminate the legal hemp industry built under the 2018 farm bill,” according to a Sunday statement from the Hemp Industry and Farmers of America.
Lawmakers are “slamming the door on 325,000 American jobs and forcing consumers back to dangerous black markets,” the industry group’s executive director Brian Swensen said.
Swensen also added: “The hemp industry has been ready and willing to work on responsible regulations – age restrictions, testing requirements, proper labeling — but instead of collaboration, the industry is getting a misguided prohibition through backdoor appropriations deals.”
House trepidation
Several House Democrats, including a top appropriator, criticized the deal.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republicans for the proposal Sunday night in a statement, saying House and Senate Democrats have “waged a valiant fight” for the last seven weeks.
“It now appears that Senate Republicans will send the House of Representatives a spending bill that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. As a result of the Republicans refusal to address the healthcare crisis that they have created, tens of millions of everyday Americans are going to see their costs skyrocket,” Jeffries said.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top House Democratic appropriator, said she did not agree to the release of the veterans and military construction bill as an attachment to the deal.
“Congress must invest in veterans, address the health care crisis that is raising costs on more than 20 million Americans, and prevent President Trump from not spending appropriated dollars in our communities,” DeLauro, D-Conn., said in a statement.
Rep. Angie Craig joined other House Democrats in slamming the Senate negotiations on social media.
“If people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you. I’m not going to put 24 million Americans at risk of losing their health care. I’m a no,” said Craig, of Minnesota.