The Government Shutdown is Over, Here’s What That Means for You

The longest federal shutdown officially came to an end on Wednesday (Nov. 12) after President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government. Now that the government is set to return to normal, folks are wondering exactly what it all means for them.

The country has been further left polarized as many Americans blamed Republicans for the 43-day shutdown while also blaming Democrats for caving in too quickly. The legislation cleared the House on a 222-209 vote, with Republicans viewing this as a clear win. On the flip side, the shutdown left hundreds of thousands of government employees without paychecks and nearly 42 million more without food assistance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said most states will start receiving SNAP benefits potentially within 24 hours of Trump signing the budget bill, CBS Austin reported. Some states, including New York and Texas, already started handing out partial SNAP payments earlier this week, according to The Texas Tribune. The new bill provides SNAP funding through September 2026.

Federal workers returned to work on Thursday (Nov. 13), according to NBC News. In several agencies, like Health and Human Services, employees were told furloughed employees will likely receive paychecks with back pay before Nov. 21, according to an email obtained by the outlet.

Still, airports around the country are struggling to offset staffing shortages caused by the shutdown. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it will freeze flight cancellations at six percent, according to AP News. The agency previously said it was raising cancellations up to 10 percent by this Friday (Nov. 14) because of the shutdown.

“If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. Given that holiday season is right around the corner, the federal reopening couldn’t have come at a better time for Americans traveling this year.

All other agencies and parts of the government are expected to return to full operations starting on Thursday. That includes the House of Representatives, which has been out of session since Sept. 19, according to reports. Several Democrats voted in favor of the GOP budget bill on the promise to vote on Obamacare subsidies later this year. President Trump said he’s working on a plan to address growing healthcare concerns.

“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this past weekend.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans quietly inserted a provision into the funding bill allowing GOP senators attached to the Jan. 6, 2021 investigation to sue the government over their phone records, the New York Times reported. Senators can reportedly be awarded up to $500,000 for each violation.

Under the new bill, funding for most federal agencies will run out at midnight on Jan. 30, 2026. Congress will have to agree on a new funding bill before then… or else Americans are doomed to endure yet another shutdown.