USA Shutdown about to end: US House of Representatives approves budget
An end to the weeks-long partial shutdown of US government business is imminent.
13.11.2025, 02:37
SDA
After the Senate, the House of Representatives, the second chamber of parliament, has now also passed a transitional budget that will apply until the end of January. In order to officially end the longest shutdown in US history, US President Donald Trump still has to sign the legislative package. According to the White House, this should happen late Wednesday evening (local time; 03.45 CET Thursday).
In the House of Representatives, where the Republicans have the majority, 222 MPs voted in favor of the transition budget, while 209 were against. There were also some supporters among the opposition Democrats in the end.
Since October 1, the United States has no longer had a federal budget and government operations are only functioning to a limited extent. Government employees no longer receive a salary, food aid for many Americans has been cut off and thousands of flights have been canceled.
That's why many things have come to a standstill
Trump's Republicans and the opposition Democrats have been engaged in a bitter dispute over the budget for weeks. In order for it to be passed in the US Senate, some Democratic votes were also needed to push through demands for healthcare for Americans.
At issue were tax credits for health insurance premiums for more than 20 million people, which expire at the end of the year. The Democrats wanted to extend these subsidies. The Republicans opposed this, which is why many policyholders are now facing a doubling of their monthly contributions.
A record shutdown
Given the extremely polarized nature of US politics, a government shutdown is not entirely unusual, as the two parties are often unable to reach an agreement on time. However, this was by far the longest shutdown in US history.
On Wednesday it was 43 days. The previous longest shutdown lasted 35 days at the turn of 2019 - that was during Trump's first term as president.
The breakthrough
At the weekend, some Democratic representatives in the Senate finally gave in and helped the Republicans to get the necessary votes. Since then, the media have speculated as to why the Democrats changed their minds. In return, the Republicans promised that a vote on healthcare costs would be held in Congress in December. However, this proposal is considered to have almost no chance of success in the House of Representatives, where the Republicans also have the majority.
Shutdown could happen again
If Trump signs the interim budget, the shutdown will end for the time being. However, the transitional budget is only valid until the end of January. If a regular budget has not been passed by then, there could be another shutdown from February.
