What’s in the deal to end the government shutdown for now

An agreement was reached on Sunday to reopen the federal government following A wave of negotiations led by a group of centrist Democratic senators to end the longest shutdown in American history.

The closure began on October 1 and has lasted for 40 days. The 31-page agreement:

• Reopen the federal government until January 30
• Hold a vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits in December
• Reversal of federal layoffs made during the shutdown
• Guarantee back pay for unemployed federal employees
• Funding food stamps through fiscal year 2026

For more than a month, most Democratic senators have refused to vote on a short-term funding bill unless President Donald Trump agrees to renew the ACA subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. President Donald Trump and Republicans opposed negotiating health care tax credits while the government was shut down because they viewed it as a form of “hostage taking.”

Senate Republicans had held 15 votes throughout October on the same short-term funding bill in an effort to force Democrats to crack, but most Democratic senators continued to unite in opposition. Both sides pointed the finger at each other for responsibility. Public opinion surveys so far have shown that Americans place most of the blame for the shutdown on Republicans.

Now comes the hardest part of the deal: getting to the White House. It faces a bumpy journey and will be subject to several procedural votes before its final passage in the Senate. Ultimately, the deal does not renew ACA subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand.

The closure will also not end immediately. This situation is set to continue for several more days, as there is unlikely to be unanimous support among all senators to expedite the spending deal.

Progressives in both chambers are already criticizing the deal for not renewing ACA subsidies. And it also must pass the House — which has been out of session for nearly two months — before reaching Trump’s signature. Many Democrats believed their party’s victories last week in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections were a message from voters to keep fighting.

“I think it’s a terrible mistake,” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Sunday evening. “People want us to fight for health care, and that’s what I believe. »

The reception among Democrats was also frosty in the Lower House. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement sharply criticizing the Senate deal, saying it “must decisively address the Republican health care crisis.”

The results of the closure

More than 700,000 federal employees were furloughed during the shutdown, raising fears among economists that a recession could be triggered as it drags on. Since federal funding dried up for agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, data releases such as monthly employment and inflation reports have been suspended for the time being.

The BLS is expected to release the September jobs report once the deal is passed and funding is restored. But the staff shortage through October will likely cause delays in future data releases and cast a fog over economic decision-making among businesses and the Federal Reserve.

The Trump administration has also taken extraordinary steps to downsize the federal government during the lockdown. White House budget director Russ Vought suspended a handful of infrastructure projects in Democratic-led cities to punish Democratic lawmakers for their resistance to funding legislation. The White House also carried out mass layoffs of federal employees.