The government shutdown has come to an end after eight Democratic Senators broke from their party to pass a spending bill that does not address ACA healthcare credits, which was the sticking point in negotiations. After it passed the house Wednesday, President Trump signed it into law last night, ending the longest government shutdown in American history, lasting 43 days.  

The funding bill focuses on reversing the reduction of federal employees that occurred during the shutdown, protections against future layoffs through January, and an appropriations bill that will fully fund SNAP through Sept. 20, 2026. 

Multiple Republican Senators also slipped in a last-minute provision that would deliver millions in taxpayer-funded payouts to eight senators who were investigated for their connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released a statement that said, “While families receive notices about skyrocketing premiums – and the Trump administration fights tooth and nail to block hungry families from receiving SNAP benefits – the Senate snuck a provision into its government funding legislation to line their own personal bank accounts with millions of taxpayer dollars. What makes this corruption so staggering is that the payout is specifically designed to go to eight Senators whose phone records were lawfully subpoenaed under due process by the Department of Justice.”

“These eight Senators all voted to shove taxpayer dollars into their own pockets – $500,000 for each time their records were inspected – and reports indicate that these eight Senators will be paid at least $1 million each, but potentially much more,” said DeLauro. “At least a million dollars, guaranteed, for Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).” 

The deal was negotiated by a group of moderates including Republicans and Sens. Angus King (Independent-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hasson (Democrat – N. H.). Joining them was Sens. Tim Kaine (D – Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (D – Nev.).

Politico compiled information on the eight senators, drawing comparisons and differences between them, reporting, “Most, but not all, previously held state-level office – including four former governors. Most, but not all, come from presidential swing states. Two have announced they are retiring from the Senate after their current terms end, and two are senior members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. None are up for reelection in 2026,” leaving these senate seats open for next year’s midterms. 

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer voted against the bill after saying, “The American people have now awoken to Trump’s health care crisis … Democrats demanded that we find a way to fix this crisis and quickly, but Republicans have refused to move an inch. So, I cannot support the Republican bill that’s on the floor because it fails to do anything of substance to fix America’s healthcare crisis.” 

The blowback was immense. The American public showed last week that they are ready for a change in leadership within the Democratic party.

The co-founder of Indivisible, the progressive advocacy group behind the “No Kings” protest, said, “We were hopeful that the Democratic Party could be convinced to fight back against the regime. We tried the largest protests in history and the best election night in years. The public polling was with us. The GOP was fracturing. Trump was fretting. We were winning everything but inside the Democratic caucus. I’m convinced that the time for advocacy is over and the only thing that will shift the Party is a cleansing primary season.”

Constituents represented by the defecting senators have swarmed call lines, mail boxes, and even driving hours in an attempt to air their grievances. Most are met with busy messages or turned away at the office. 

The sentiment was echoed within the Democratic Party as well. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Comm.), said, “The people were on our side. We were building momentum to help save our democracy. We could have won – the premium increase notices were just starting. A giving in now will embolden [Trump]. Things will likely get worse.”

Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, said abandoning the health care demands makes a “horrific situation even worse.” 

Pressure mounted to end the shutdown after the FAA announced that airlines must reduce their flights by 10% for safety reasons, after air traffic controllers stopped receiving paychecks. Going into the shutdown, there was already a shortage of air traffic controllers, and the shutdown increased the rate of callouts as controllers had to pick up second jobs to support their families.

On Sunday, over 3,200 flights were cancelled while over 10,000 flights were delayed. Airline companies began losing millions of dollars going into the busiest travel season of the year. 

Sen. Kaine (D-Virginia) was the top recipient of American Airlines donations in the 2023-2024 election cycle. Hassan and King are also recipients of American Airlines donations. Some speculate that airlines put pressure on Senate Democrats to end the shutdown in the wake of travel chaos, prompting the abandonment of the fight for healthcare subsidies. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries promised that a vote on an ACA funding bill would take place by the second week of December, but there’s no guarantee that Republicans will vote to pass it, which is why Democrats dug their heels in on this shutdown. A vote did take place on Monday that would include a simple one-year extension of the ACA funds, but all 53 Senate republicans voted against the bill. 

The House has been called back into session after being on recess since Sept. 19. Speaker Mike Johnson vowed to swear in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, whose term has been blocked by Johnson during this shutdown over, potentially, Grijalva’s vow to vote to release the Epstein files once the House is in session. 

Grijalva is the last vote needed to release the files, and Johnson’s refusal to swear her in is speculated to be out of protection for pedophiles within the government. 

With the end of the government shutdown, money will be flowing back into SNAP and federal employees paychecks, and travel delays will be some-what mitigated. Though congressional votes will begin taking place again on healthcare and the release of the Epstein files. 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.**