Following 40 days of federal agency closures, the United States Senate has taken a decisive step toward restoring government operations, advancing a Republican-led stopgap funding measure on Sunday, November 10, 2025. The compromise legislation, which secured the necessary 60-vote threshold after intensive cross-party talks, aims to reopen federal agencies until January 30, 2026, and immediately restore pay for hundreds of thousands of affected federal workers. However, the bill’s conspicuous omission of extensions for Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits has immediately drawn fire from progressive Democrats, setting the stage for a potentially ruinous confrontation in the House of Representatives.
Ending the Longest Shutdown in History
The impetus for the Senate’s action stemmed from the growing national ramifications of the funding lapse, which began on October 1. Majority leader John Thune emphasized the urgent need to address the crisis, citing the significant strains on essential services, including air travel. Data from FlightAware illustrated the impact, reporting approximately 2,300 flight cancellations and over 8,000 delays on Sunday alone, severely affecting major hubs like New York, Chicago, and Atlanta due to staffing shortages in air traffic control.
The current package guarantees full back pay for the estimated 750,000 federal employees who were either furloughed or worked without wages during the shutdown. It also includes full-year appropriations for certain government functions, such as portions of the legislative branch and foundational food assistance programs, which have faced funding uncertainty amid the impasse. Crucially, the bill reverses post-October 1 layoffs, ensuring job security through January.
The Healthcare Hurdle
Despite the bipartisan support needed to clear the Senate’s procedural hurdle, deep fissures remain over the exclusion of ACA subsidy extensions. These premium tax credits, which have been instrumental in nearly doubling enrollment in the ACA marketplace to 24 million since 2021, are due to expire at the end of the year.
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, argue that a continuing resolution ignoring this “pressing health crisis” is unacceptable. Senator Bernie Sanders echoed the sentiment, calling the omission a “grave error.” While centrist Democrats like Senators Tim Kaine and Maggie Hassan voiced support for the Senate deal, prioritizing the protection and back pay of federal workers, they acknowledged the need to address the healthcare issue quickly.
Majority Leader Thune has pledged to hold a separate vote on the health subsidy extensions once the government is reopened—a compromise that top Democrats find insufficient. The proposal by President Donald Trump to replace the subsidies with direct individual payments was also met with skepticism, with opponents like Senator Adam Schiff warning it appeared designed to weaken the ACA’s underlying frameworks.
The Path to Reopening Remains Obstacle-Ridden
With the cloture vote passed, the Senate’s pathway to a final vote appears clear. The true test, however, now shifts to the House of Representatives. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and numerous Democrats have explicitly vowed to oppose the measure unless the ACA tax credits are reinstated, accusing Republicans of promoting a funding plan that would spike health care premiums for millions of Americans.
With Speaker Mike Johnson having kept the House in recess since mid-September, pressure is mounting on Democrats to accept the current Republican framework to end the 40-day shutdown. As the political battle over funding transitions to a contentious fight over health care policy, the effort to fully restore government operations faces significant procedural and ideological obstacles that could prolong the crisis further.