Senate passes legislation to end government shutdown, bill heads to the House

BREAKING: Senate passes funding bill to end shutdown

The Senate has now voted on a government funding deal that works to end the ongoing government shutdown. The agreement passed in the Senate and now moves to the House for additional voting. Earlier on Monday night, the Senate began taking a series of votes on a bipartisan proposal to reopen the government. According to Chad Pergram, Senior Congressional Correspondent for Fox News, “the Senate has enough votes to pass the funding bill.”

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers have agreed upon a stopgap bill that will reopen the government after a Monday evening vote.  

But the record-long government shutdown is not quite over. 

The House must now vote on the legislation before it can head to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

The final Senate vote was 60-40.

FILE - The U.S. Capitol building is seen during the 23rd day of the ongoing federal government shutdown in Washington, D.C., United States, on Oct. 22, 2025. (Photo by Celal Güne/Anadolu via Getty Images)

What they're saying:

After the vote, Senate Majority leader John Thune, R-S.D., thanked unpaid staff and Capitol Police who stood near him on the floor. He said he realized the strain had been immense for "six excruciating weeks."

"I am very, very happy to be able to say we are coming to the end," Thune said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to start returning to Washington "right now" given shutdown-related travel delays. 

"We have to do this as quickly as possible," said Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.

Dig deeper:

After weeks of negotiations, the moderate Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many in their caucus who have demanded that Republicans negotiate with them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1.

Thune promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.

The legislation includes a reversal of the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over.

In addition to New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted Sunday in favor of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes. All other Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, voted against it.

The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10 to 12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations. But in the end, only five switched their votes — the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, the shutdown has caused thousands of flight cancellations and delays as air traffic controllers — unpaid for nearly a month — have stopped showing up, citing the added stress and need to take second jobs.