The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended after 43 days as Trump signed the funding bill on November 12. The House of Representatives returned from recess to take up the bill as a procedural step, after the Senate passed it in a 60-40 vote the day before. The House voted mostly on party lines and delivered a 222-209 vote to send the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Before enacting the bill, Trump remarked that government shutdowns must be avoided in the future, stating, “This isn’t how a country should be run,” an AP report quoted.
House further tweaks funding bill
The package will fund the government through January 30 and prevent federal worker layoffs for the time being. The House Rules Committee advanced the funding measure after rejecting amendments to extend healthcare subsidies. The bill largely leaves out an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s premium-tax-credit subsidies. This was among the few points argued by the Democrats to help push the bill forward in the Senate.
Now that the funding bill has been signed, federal agencies will begin restarting operations, and furloughed workers will receive back pay. But the agreement only extends funding through Jan. 30, leaving the risk of another shutdown if Congress doesn’t act again.
Reaching a middle ground
Trump has expressed openness to collaborating with Democrats on health care, although it’s uncertain whether an agreement can be reached. He reiterated his proposal to redirect funds from health insurance tax credits straight to American citizens instead of insurance providers. The specifics of how this would function remain vague, but some Republicans have floated the idea of depositing the money into individuals’ savings accounts.
The next challenge is for Congress to reconcile a full‐year spending bill; they will have to possibly revisit health-care offsets and restore delayed economic data, as the 43-day shutdown threw things out of gear.