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U.S. Senate compromise sets stage for end to government shutdown

Published: 11 Nov. 2025, 08:55

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks to reporters as he walks to the Senate floor, more than a month into the longest U.S. government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Nov. 10. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could end this week after a compromise that would restore federal funding cleared an initial Senate hurdle late on Sunday, though it was unclear when Congress would give its final approval.

The deal would restore funding for federal agencies that lawmakers allowed to expire on Oct. 1, bringing welcome relief to low-income families that have seen food subsidies disrupted, hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have gone unpaid for more than a month and travelers who have faced thousands of canceled flights. It would extend funding through Jan. 30, leaving the federal government for now on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion a year to its $38 trillion in debt.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress. But Democrats used rules that require 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation, in a push for an extension of health insurance subsidies for 24 million Americans that are due to expire at the end of the year. The Senate compromise would set up a December vote on that measure.

Coming a week after Democrats won high-profile elections in New Jersey and Virginia and elected a democratic socialist as the next mayor of New York City, the decision by eight moderate Democrats to advance the deal provoked anger among many in the party who noted there was no guarantee that the health care vote would pass the Senate or House of Representatives.

"We wish we could do more," said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat. "The government shutting down seemed to be an opportunity to lead us to better policy. It didn't work."

A late October Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 50 percent of Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown, while 43 percent blamed Democrats.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday, buoyed by news of progress on a deal to reopen the government.

Moderate Democrats broker deal

Sunday's deal was brokered by Democratic Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both from New Hampshire, and Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, said a person familiar with the talks.

Trump has unilaterally canceled billions of dollars in spending and trimmed federal payrolls by hundreds of thousands of workers, intruding on Congress' constitutional authority over fiscal matters. Those actions have violated past spending laws passed by Congress, and some Democrats have questioned why they would vote for any such spending deals going forward.

The deal does not appear to include any specific guardrails to prevent Trump from enacting further spending cuts.

However, it would stall his campaign to downsize the federal work force, prohibiting him from firing employees until Jan. 30.

It would also fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, through Sept. 30 of next year, heading off any possible disruptions if Congress were to shut down the government again during that time.

Many steps remain before the deal can become law.

The Senate must first reach a bipartisan agreement to move quickly toward a final vote. Otherwise, the chamber would require much of the coming week to move through procedural actions before voting on final passage, possibly extending the shutdown into next weekend.

House could act quickly

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said his chamber could pass the bill as soon as Wednesday and send it on to Trump to sign into law, if the Senate acts quickly. "I think we'll get it passed off the House floor and get it to the president's desk," he said on Fox Business.

Should the government remain closed for much longer, economic growth could turn negative in the fourth quarter, especially if air travel does not return to normal levels by the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 27, according to White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett.

Reuters