Congress
House votes to reopen government after 43-day shutdown
The House passed a government funding package late Wednesday that will close out the longest shutdown in history.
Members returned to Washington after a 54-day recess to vote on the shutdown-ending bill brokered across party lines in the Senate. They voted 222-209, with just six Democrats breaking with their leadership to get the measure over the finish line despite not winning key concessions on health care. Two Republicans broke with their party to oppose it.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure into law before the end of the night, setting up the federal operations to resume Thursday morning.
The package includes a three-bill “minibus” of full-year funding for the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects and the operations of Congress. The trio of bills is the result of months of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations between top appropriators.
Under the measure, all other agencies are funded through Jan. 30.