Trump signs bill to end longest-ever US shutdown after 43 days: Issues at stake, next steps

The US Senate had previously voted 60-40 in favour of the bill. The resolution of the present stalemate was made possible by a minority group of Democrats who supported the Republican spending package that omitted a key healthcare spending provision that the Democratic Party had demanded.

What triggered the present shutdown?

A government shutdown typically results when the US Congress is unable to authorise more spending before October 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Depending on the extent of approvals made by this date and which agencies get funded, the government may have to shut down fully or partially.

The government has been shut down 14 times since 1980, with three of these occurring during Trump’s first term (2017-2021) alone.

The present shutdown was effected by the Democratic Party’s demand to extend expiring healthcare subsidies and restore cuts to Medicaid introduced by the Trump administration this year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July, ensured that some departments, such as the Department of Defense (now the Department of War) and the Department of Homeland Security, would receive funding and continue to function through the shutdown.

What is in the bill to end the shutdown?

Food assistance: The federal food assistance programme, SNAP, had been a bone of contention for the Trump administration. As one of the services that lost federal funding during the shutdown, about 42 million Americans were unable to use SNAP to purchase groceries for the past three weeks. We have explained about the programme here

The Supreme Court granted the administration an emergency order to pause all SNAP funding last week, while it deliberates on the status of the programme this week.

If passed, the current bill will restore full SNAP funding for the rest of the fiscal year, that is until September 30, 2026, and put an end to these legal battles.

Federal agencies: Most federal agencies would be funded till January 30, raising the possibility of another shutdown in three months if both parties fail to come to a consensus on a spending package until the end of the fiscal year. However, funding till September 30 is assured for some functions like the US Department of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs.

In a major win for the Democratic Party, the status of the Government Accountability Office has been protected and its funding unchanged. The GAO pulled up the Trump administration twice this year after it held that the president violated funding rules.

Payments to furloughed staff: The bill ensures retroactive pay to about 1.4 million federal workers who were furloughed and/or worked without pay. It also ensures that federal workforce levels will be unchanged from before the shutdown, reversing attempts made by several agencies to institute staffing reductions during this period. Further, federal employees will not face the threat of layoff until January 30 at least.

Why aren’t the Democrats pleased?

The bill does not address the chief demand by Democratic lawmakers: extending the health insurance subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

The eight Democrat lawmakers maintain that their support for the bill, described by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois as “not perfect”, was imperative to ensure a return to normalcy. However, House Democrats, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, have called the deal insufficient.

Despite this, the party stands to gain from presenting itself as a protector of healthcare spending, considering the Trump administration already instituted steep spending cuts to programmes such as Medicare. The Republican Party will now face immense pressure to lower medical costs for US citizens, an advantage the Democrats intend to press on.