WASHINGTON – The longest-ever government shutdown is on the verge of ending, but food aid benefits remain in limbo and flight cancellations and delays continue to disrupt travelers.
The Senate is poised to vote on a bipartisan deal reached between some Democrats, Republicans and President Donald Trump‘s White House that would fully reopen the government until Jan. 30. The agreement would also keep various other federal benefits, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and veterans’ services, funded through next year.
The vote comes after a group of moderate Senate Democrats defected from the rest of their party on Sunday and backed the deal, marking the biggest turning point since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. But it prompted immediate political blowback as many Democrats urged their colleagues to hold out for greater spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune teed up a series of votes Monday night that will end with the chamber voting on a package that would reopen the government.
That deal, which was announced Sunday, is expected to pass. Lawmakers will take a flurry of amendment and procedural votes, Thune said, before ultimately sending the package over to the House of Representatives.
President Donald Trump said he supports the Senate deal to reopen the government brokered between Republican leaders and eight Democratic lawmakers.
“Based on everything I’m hearing, they haven’t changed anything,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office. “And we have support from enough Democrats, and we’re going to be reopening our country.”
“It’s too bad it was closed, but we’ll be reopening our country very quickly,” Trump said.
The agreement would reverse Trump’s recent firing of federal workers during the shutdown, but the president suggested he’s fine with that.
“I’ll abide by the deal. The deal is very good,” Trump said.
The agreed-to deal would reopen the government until Jan. 30. It would also include full-year funding for several agencies and programs, including food aid and veterans’ benefits. SNAP funding would continue through September at higher levels.
It also includes a commitment to vote on a bill to potentially extend expiring Obamacare subsidies. The tax credits, which millions of Americans rely on for help paying premiums, have been the issue at the center of the shutdown fight.
In addition, the deal will reverse the layoffs of thousands of federal workers, while barring any potential firings until Jan. 30. The terminations have been temporarily blocked by a federal court.
A handful of Senate Democrats have backed the compromise to reopen the government, but it didn’t make them popular among their fellow leaders on the left.
“Making this deal is malpractice,” New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill said in a statement.
“Pathetic,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a one-word post on X.
And most Senate Democrats balked at the compromise.
“I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia.
President Donald Trump threatened to dock the pay of air traffic controllers who haven’t reported to work as flight delays and cancellations spike across the country.
“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!!” Trump said on social media Nov. 10. “Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially ‘docked.’”
Many air traffic controllers continued working without a paycheck during the shutdown. But others refused and didn’t report to airports across the country, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to order airlines to cancel 4% of their flights over the weekend.
Trump urged controllers who didn’t show up for work to quit. And he pledged to recommend $10,000 bonuses to controllers who continued working.
“For those Air Traffic Controllers who who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax,’ I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country,” Trump said. “For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU.”
Delta Air Lines announced that it canceled nearly 500 flights under a government directive during the shutdown and that all cancellations through Nov. 12 have been completed.
The airline canceled 280 mainline flights and 215 Delta Connection regional flights.
Additional delays and cancellations may still be needed to cope with air traffic control restrictions, the airline warned.
“Delta teams continue to safely manage our operation and care for customers who have experienced cancelations and delays,” it said in a statement.
United Airlines said it is sticking with government-ordered flight cancelations through at least Nov. 12, as Congress debates a potential end to the shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to reduce their flights 4% on Nov. 7, to cope with strains on air traffic controllers who suffered absences while continuing to work during the shutdown.
“We will continue to make rolling updates to our schedule if the government shutdown continues and share the latest information as we have it,” the airline said in a social media post on Monday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued that Republicans will be unable to hide from higher health care costs despite an end to the shutdown.
Most Senate Democrats opposed reopening the government without extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which are set to expire Dec. 31. Open enrollment began Nov. 1 and premiums are projected to double for participants if subsidies aren’t extended. About 22 million of 24 million participants receive subsidies.
The compromise to end the shutdown commits to a Senate vote in December to extend the tax credits, but approval is not assured. Many Republicans oppose extending the subsidies without overhauling the entire program.
Democrats have criticized Republicans for opposing Obamacare without offering their own options to provide health care for millions of Americans.
“Now is their chance,” said Jeffries, D-New York. “They can no longer hide.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said his colleagues would vote “in the very near future” on legislation to reopen the government but he asked for cooperation to do so quickly.
“I’m hoping that will be hours and not days,” Thune said. “Let’s get it done and get it over the House so that we can get this government open.”
Thune noted that air travel is in “an extremely precarious situation,” food benefits under SNAP are delayed and essential workers have been going unpaid for nearly six weeks.
To move legislation quickly in the Senate requires unanimous consent. One senator can delay debate for hours or days. Thune urged lawmakers in both parties to move the legislation quickly.
“The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out,” Thune said. “I ask all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle – both parties – to make it possible for us to quickly pass this bill.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said representatives would vote “as soon as possible” on the Senate compromise to reopen the government, but hopefully this week.
The House had previously approved a temporary spending bill to keep the government open until Nov. 21. But most Senate Democrats blocked the legislation while urging greater spending on health care.
The House has been out since before the shutdown began Oct. 1, waiting for the Senate to act. Johnson, R-Louisiana, said the Senate can only act swiftly by unanimous consent, so it might take several days for that chamber to send the bill to the House.
“At the very moment that they hold that final vote, I will call all House members to return to Washington as quickly as possible,” Johnson said. “We’ll give a 36-hour formal and official notice so that we can vote as soon as possible.”
Johnson spoke to reporters without taking questions. But he urged fellow lawmakers to begin returning to Washington to complete work such as the remaining spending bills to cover most departments beyond the temporary patch.
“To all my colleagues – Democrats and Republicans in the House – you need to begin right now returning to the Hill,” Johnson added. “We look forward to the government reopening this week so Congress can get back to its regular legislative session.”
Linda Lowell, a Democrat from the rural Virginia town of Weems, called a vote by a few Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, to end the government shutdown without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies a “drop in the ocean of disappointment.”
“Too many people are suffering. The point has been made that it’s the Republicans who did it, and now I think the Republicans are just going have to wear the loss of the a ACA credits and the fiasco over SNAP,” she said.
She said she appreciates that it was a tough choice.
“It’s tough because everybody is now going to have to just respond to their own conscience and their own sensitivity to the suffering of employees who are not getting paid,” Lowell said.
– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the head of the Appropriations Committee, said the temporary funding bill to reopen the government will provide back pay to all federal workers.
The measure includes a package of three spending bills – for military construction and veterans, agriculture, and the legislative branch – that received bipartisan support from the Senate on Aug. 1.
“Under our legislation, all federal employees, including members of our military and Coast Guard, Capitol Police officers, Border Patrol agents, TSA screeners, air traffic controllers – all will receive their back wages,” Collins said on the Senate floor on Sunday.
The agriculture portion of that measure provides full-year funding SNAP food benefits and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. That means those programs wouldn’t be vulnerable to being cut off in another shutdown if lawmakers reach an impasse on Jan. 30.
“One of the most unfortunate and shameful consequences of this shutdown has been that these vital nutrition programs were in jeopardy for our most vulnerable families, including 170,000 Mainers who rely on the SNAP program,” Collins added.
The Trump administration must tell the Supreme Court today if it wants to the justices to pause an appeal court’s decision that it must pay full SNAP food benefits for November.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued that order Monday morning after the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Sunday backed a federal judge’s order that the food stamp program be fully funded this month despite the government shutdown.
Jackson, on Friday, had briefly paused the judge’s order. But she set that order to expire 48 hours after the appeals court’s decision.
If the administration appeals, Jackson set a Tuesday morning deadline for the cities, nonprofit groups and others challenging the administration to respond. The administration’s emergency request Friday was handled by Jackson because she has responsibility for requests in that part of the country.
It’s unclear if a possible congressional deal to end the government shutdown will end the need for the legal challenges.
– Maureen Groppe
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvnia, who voted repeatedly with Republicans to reopen the government, apologized to Capitol police officers who worked without pay during the shutdown and to SNAP recipients whose food benefits were delayed.
“It should’ve never come to this,” Fetterman said in a statement. “This was a failure.”
Federal food aid would be funded through 2026 at higher levels under a deal to reopen the government, but for now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is still in limbo.
The SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, lapsed this month for the first time in the program’s 60-year history. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to pay the monthly food benefits in full, but the Supreme Court paused the ruling Nov. 7, allowing the government to make partial payments.
The legal wrangling left 42 million Americans who receive the benefits on edge heading into the weekend, waiting to see how much assistance they would get, and when.
In a major shift, senators late Sunday night cleared a procedural hurdle to begin the process of ending the shutdown.
Along with most other Republicans, seven Democrats and one independent senator (Maine’s Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats) voted to move toward advancing a funding agreement that could reopen the government as soon as this week.
Here is the full list of Democrats who voted for the spending bill:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, voted against the measure.