• The U.S. Senate passed a short-term funding bill in a 60-40 vote, a breakthrough after a 41-day government shutdown.
  • House Speaker Mike Johnson has called lawmakers back to Washington for a vote within 36 hours, signaling strong bipartisan support.
  • The record-long shutdown furloughed 900,000 federal employees and caused severe disruptions to air travel, with over 10,000 flight delays.

In a decisive move to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill late Thursday, setting the stage for the House to follow suit within the next day and a half. The 60-40 vote reflects a fragile bipartisan compromise after weeks of political gridlock that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and crippled key services.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who recalled representatives to Washington immediately following the Senate's action, praised the deal's cross-aisle backing. "This is the beginning of the end," Johnson said in a brief statement, adding that the House would vote on the measure within 36 hours. The move comes after the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to reduce airspace capacity at major airports earlier this month triggered over 2,700 flight cancellations, intensifying public pressure on lawmakers to find a resolution.

The shutdown, which began on October 1 after Congress failed to agree on appropriations for the 2026 fiscal year, forced approximately 900,000 employees into furlough and required another two million to work without pay. Operations at critical agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were suspended or severely curtailed, disrupting services for millions of Americans.

While the short-term funding bill would quickly restore pay and government operations, it merely postpones the underlying policy disputes that sparked the crisis. The main sticking point—a fight over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies—remains unresolved, setting the stage for another potential budget battle when the new spending deadline approaches. Aides from both parties, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the temporary nature of the deal means the fundamental disagreements have yet to be addressed.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of flight cancellations. The correct figure is over 2,700.