Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) walks at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 12, 2025, surrounded by members of the US House of Representatives who have returned from a 53-day vacation to vote to end the longest US government shutdown in history. Photographed on November 12, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
The House of Representatives prepared for a vote Wednesday night to end the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.
The House has cleared necessary procedural hurdles before it can begin voting on a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government until at least the end of January.
President Donald Trump has said he intends to sign the bill.
The final vote to ensure passage of the bill is scheduled to take place between 7pm and 7:30pm ET. The procedural motion passed 213-209.
At about 6:30 p.m., a one-hour comment period began on the continuing resolution to provide funding to the federal government.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers will split their time evenly before final voting begins.
The vote came two days after the Senate passed the bill and after the chamber’s Republican majority reached an agreement with eight members of the Democratic caucus to end the stalemate that led to the Oct. 1 shutdown.
Most Democratic senators refused to vote in favor of the bill because it does not extend enhanced tax credits for the millions of Americans who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces.
Under the Senate agreement, Republicans agreed to allow Democrats to vote in December on a bill to extend the aid increases that are set to expire at the end of the month.
Without these tax credits, millions of Americans would face steep increases in the cost of their Obamacare insurance plans.
The deal was reached over the weekend after several days of headlines about air travel delays caused by air traffic controllers not reporting to work during the shutdown and the Trump administration’s plan to first completely eliminate and then only partially cover food stamp benefits for 42 million people.
In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said some people would see their monthly premiums “double or even triple” as a result. “More than 2 million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance next year because it’s too expensive,” she said.
DeLauro said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has shown “no interest” in voting on ACA subsidies, despite Senate Republicans insisting that is the plan.
“We shouldn’t be here,” said House Minority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana).
“As Republicans, we worked to prevent a government shutdown more than a month ago,” Scalise said. “We waited 42 days, and Democrats voted again and again to keep the government shut down to appease their most extreme base.”
Scalise said “millions of Americans” had to endure “pain and suffering” because Democrats refused to vote yes on the funding bill.
He denounced the hypocrisy of Democrats in calling for $200 billion in health spending that benefits “illegals” while advocating dismantling $50 billion in local health funds.
“It’s crazy,” Scalise said.
This is developing news. Please check the latest information.
