Record-breaking US government shutdown set to end as Congress moves forward

Congress set to end shutdown

Congress appeared poised on Wednesday to bring the longest government shutdown in US history to an end — 43 days that had paralysed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid, as Donald Trump’s Republicans and Democrats engaged in a high-stakes blame game.

The House of Representatives was expected to approve a contentious Senate-passed funding package that would reopen federal agencies. However, the Democratic base expressed outrage over what it sees as a capitulation by its leaders.

"We believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight. It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end, as we said all along," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, blaming the minority party for the standoff.

The package would finance military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture and Congress itself through next autumn, with the remainder of government funded until the end of January.

Approximately 670,000 furloughed federal employees are set to return to work, while a similar number who remained on duty without pay — including over 60,000 air traffic controllers and airport security staff — will receive back pay.

The agreement also reinstates federal workers dismissed by Trump during the shutdown, and air travel, which had been severely disrupted across the country, is expected to gradually return to normal.

During a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, Trump broke off to take a victory lap over the shutdown ending.

"We're opening up our country -- it should have never been closed," said Trump, bucking presidential tradition by using a ceremonial event to score political points.

Johnson and his Republicans -- who have a two-vote margin and almost no room for error -- are bracing for one or two rebels to balk at the terms.

The deal appears likely to pass roughly along party lines, with Democratic leadership -- furious over what they see as their Senate colleagues folding -- urging members to vote no.

Although polling showed the public on Democrats' side throughout the standoff, Republicans are widely seen as having done better from its conclusion.

For more than five weeks, Democrats held firm on refusing to reopen the government unless Trump agreed to extend pandemic-era tax credits that made health insurance affordable for millions of Americans.

Election victories in multiple states last week gave Democrats further encouragement and a reinvigorated sense of purpose.

But a group of eight moderate Senate Democrats broke ranks to cut a deal with Republicans that offers a vote in the upper chamber on health care subsidies -- but no floor time in the House and no guarantee of action.

Democrats are now deep in a painful reckoning over how their tough stance crumbled without any notable win.

Democratic leadership is arguing that -- while their health care demands went largely unheard -- they were able to shine the spotlight on an issue that they hope will power them to victory in the 2026 midterm elections.

"Over the last several weeks, we have elevated successfully the issue of the Republican health care crisis, and we're not backing away from it," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.

But his Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer is facing a backlash from the fractious progressive base for failing to keep his members unified, with a handful of House Democrats calling for his head.

Outside Washington, some of the party's hottest tips for the 2028 presidential nomination added their own voices to the chorus of opprobrium.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the agreement "pathetic," while his Illinois counterpart JB Pritzker said it amounted to an "empty promise." Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg called it a "bad deal."

The full financial toll of the shutdown has yet to be determined, although the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it has caused $14 billion in lost growth.

(Inputs from AFP)