US Senate Votes to End Government Shutdown, Restoring Federal Operations

The US Senate has approved a deal to end the longest government shutdown in American history, bringing relief to millions of Americans who faced disrupted food assistance and hundreds of thousands of federal workers who went without pay for weeks. The shutdown also caused significant disruptions to air travel across the country.

The Senate passed the agreement with a 60-40 vote, backed by most Republicans and eight Democrats. Those Democrats had tried unsuccessfully to tie government funding to healthcare provisions set to expire at year's end. While the deal sets up a December vote on those healthcare allocations, it doesn't guarantee they'll continue.

The agreement restores funding to federal agencies that lawmakers allowed to lapse on October 1st. It also puts a temporary halt to President Trump's campaign to shrink the federal workforce and prevents any worker layoffs until January 30th.

The deal now moves to the Republican-controlled House, where Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to approve it Wednesday and send it to Trump for his signature. Trump called the agreement "very good."

Funding will extend until January 30th, keeping the federal government on track to add roughly $1.8 trillion annually to its existing $38 trillion debt load.

Trump had unilaterally canceled billions in spending and cut federal salaries for hundreds of thousands of workers, bypassing Congress's constitutional authority over financial matters. These actions violated previous spending laws that Congress had already approved.

The shutdown highlighted the real-world impact of political gridlock. Food assistance programs that millions depend on faced interruptions, while federal workers struggled to pay bills without their paychecks. Air travel delays mounted as understaffed agencies couldn't maintain normal operations.

But here's the thing - this deal only kicks the can down the road. With funding set to expire again in just over a month, Congress will face the same political battles that caused this mess in the first place. The underlying disagreements about spending priorities and government size remain unresolved.

For markets, the deal removes immediate uncertainty about government operations, but the short-term nature of the fix means investors will likely brace for another potential showdown come January.