Inside (the Beltway) Scoop

By: Ellen Kuo
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Government Reopens After a 43 Day Shutdown

Over the past several weeks, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has tried to obtain cloture on a House passed continuing resolution that would allow the government to reopen. Finally, on Sunday, November 9, the Senate obtained cloture with the 60 votes needed on a new continuing resolution (CR) entitled the “Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026” that continues government funding from November 21, 2025, until January 30, 2026. Senate Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto, Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Jackie Rosen, Jeanne Shaheen, and independent Angus King supported cloture. Following the vote on Sunday, Thune said it “remains to be seen” how quickly the Senate would be able to get to a final vote, citing concerns that progressives might hold it up until they received a resolution on several policy issues. That delay did not happen, and the Senate passed the bill late on November 10 by a vote of 60-40.

Following the Senate’s passage of the new CR, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated he would call the House back into session within two days to vote on the Senate bill. The House took up the Senate-passed bill on November 12 and passed it with a vote of 220-209, with six Democrats supporting the majority. 

The new CR comes with a commitment to provide Democrats a vote on a forthcoming proposal to expand health insurance subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act before they expire at the end of December. In the negotiated agreement, federal employees laid off during the shutdown will be rehired, back pay is provided to all, and provisions extending various programs, such as the expiring authorities under the farm bill, are included. The new CR also allowed Congress to move forward with a final vote on a three-bill minibus consisting of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Agriculture, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Legislative Branch spending bills. Upon enactment into law, the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research program would receive $945 million, which is the higher of the amount recommended by the House and Senate for FY 2026 upon enactment into law but lower than the $1.2 billion requested by the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research coalition. The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program under the National Institute of Food and Agriculture would receive only $435 million, lower than the request of the AFRI coalition but higher than the president’s request of $405 million.