WASHINGTON — The House plans to vote Wednesday night on legislation to reopen the federal government and end an acrimonious 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is bringing the Republican-controlled chamber back into session for the first time since Sept. 19, wrapping up an extraordinarily long and unscheduled recess.
Johnson apologized to Americans for the disruptive shutdown, blaming Democrats for mass flight delays and cancellations, millions of civilian workers going without pay, and American families going hungry. He said Senate Democrats blocked a bill to fund the government 14 times before ultimately caving.
“They have a lot to answer for, and I just want to say that we’re very optimistic about the vote tally tonight. We think this is going to happen, and we’re sorry that it took this long,” Johnson said Wednesday.
The House is expected to vote on the legislation the Senate passed Monday, after eight Democrats peeled off and voted with Republicans to break a filibuster and move to end the shutdown. A procedural vote is expected in the House late Wednesday afternoon, and if that passes, as expected, the chamber will proceed to a final vote on the bill in the evening.
If it passes, it will go to President Donald Trump’s desk to become law and restore funding that has been frozen or halted, reopening the government.
The package includes a “minibus” of three appropriations bills through next September and keeps the rest of the government open at current levels through Jan. 30.
It includes full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, which will keep the program afloat through September. More than 40 million Americans rely on SNAP. Some told NBC News that they ran out of food as the shutdown cut off money for the program, and the Trump administration fought in the courts against having to shift money around to fully fund it.
The legislation also provides limited protections for federal workers who’ve been under assault since Trump’s inauguration. It reinstates thousands of workers who were laid off during the shutdown and ensures there are no more reductions in force (known as “RIFs”), at least through the end of January. And it provides back pay for workers who were furloughed or working without pay these past six weeks.
But in a major concession from Democrats, the bill does not include an extension of enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, after Republicans held firm against extending those funds beyond this year. That means more than 20 million Americans could see their premiums spike next year.
Many House and Senate Democrats are fuming over the failure to secure health care funding as part of the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has promised a Senate vote on a to-be-determined ACA funding bill, with no guarantees that it will pass. Johnson has not promised a vote in the House.
In the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, Republicans rejected Democratic motions to guarantee a floor vote on an ACA funding extension, and turned away an amendment by Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., to redirect Trump’s $40 billion “bailout” to Argentina and instead put that to extending ACA funding.
“I guess MAGA stands for MAKE ARGENTINA GREAT AGAIN,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., said in response.
The Democratic anger means House Republicans will likely have to carry the bill to passage.
In a bullish sign for the legislation’s prospects, the sometimes rebellious House Freedom Caucus circulated talking points internally praising the bill, which were obtained by NBC News. The document calls it a “responsible CR” that funds the government into 2026 and avoids a “bloated” omnibus to be negotiated over Christmas. And, it notes, the appropriations bills in the minibus either kept spending flat or contained only modest increases.
“The House Freedom Caucus has fought in lock-step with President Trump and Republican leadership in Congress,” the Freedom Caucus document said.
Tucked inside the bill is a provision that is generating heavy pushback from Democrats and even some grumbling among House Republicans. It would allow senators — but not House members — to sue the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars if their phone records were obtained without prior notification as part of the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation. It appears to apply to eight specific GOP senators.
Although emotions are raw in the Democratic caucus over some of their senators caving, party leaders say the high-stakes showdown with Trump and the Republicans “crystallized” how Democrats are fighting for health care and affordability for millions of Americans. That economic message, they say, juiced turnout and propelled them to victory in last week’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey and will help the party in 2026.
“That will be one of the defining contrasts of the midterms: Democrats working on behalf of the people to lower costs versus Republicans who have made life more expensive for everyday families,” Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement to NBC News.
“The House Democrats have the better message, stronger candidates, and as we all saw in last week’s elections, the American people are on our side as we go into the midterms,” the statement said.
Shortly before Wednesday’s vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., filed a discharge petition in a bid to bypass Johnson and force a future floor vote on a three-year extension of the expiring Obamacare subsidies. But that would need the support of at least four House Republicans to force a vote.
There was plenty of pain during the six-week impasse, some of it caused by the Trump administration as it tried to ramp up pressure on the targeted bloc of moderate Senate Democrats. In addition to the mass layoffs, the White House had threatened to halt SNAP payments to states until the shutdown ended; it ultimately doled out partial payments under a judge’s order, while fighting the issue up to the Supreme Court.
On top of that, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last week announced that the Federal Aviation Administration would have to cut the number of flights in American skies by 4% starting last weekend and ramped up reductions to 6% by Tuesday, due to air traffic controller staffing shortages spurred by the shutdown.
Thousands of flights were either delayed or canceled, snarling airports nationwide.
