The Longest Government Shutdown Ends

The longest government shutdown in American history officially ended Wednesday after Trump signed a bill to keep the lights on until January 30. But the way it ended has a lot of Democrats furious — and for good reason.

The bill only got through the Senate because eight members of the Democratic caucus — including Tim Kaine and Dick Durbin — broke with party leadership and joined Republicans to advance it. That pushed the bill to the House, where it passed.

In exchange for those eight votes, Republicans agreed to reverse the 4,000 federal worker firings — and promised to hold a vote by mid-December on extending the Obamacare subsidies that help millions afford coverage.

Not an extension of the subsidies themselves.

Just a promise to vote.

For many Democrats, that was a gut punch. They had just dominated Tuesday’s elections, built real political momentum, and had Republicans cornered. Instead of using that leverage to force a real extension of the subsidies, they walked away with… a promise.

Why eight Democrats broke ranks

Those eight senators insist this wasn’t political. And they’re probably telling the truth — none of them are up for re-election.

Sen. Tim Kaine, whose state is home to tens of thousands of federal workers, said he couldn’t watch families go weeks without pay any longer. To them, it came down to two bad options:

1. keep the shutdown going and watch more people get hurt, or
2. take a weak deal that at least got paychecks flowing again and offered the possibility of a healthcare vote later.

They’re betting that reopening the government now will still leave room to fight for the subsidies in December.

But progressives see it differently.

Why the left is furious

To critics, Democrats gave away their only leverage — the shutdown itself — for a promise Republicans don’t have to keep. If the GOP refuses to hold the vote, there’s no penalty. No consequences. Nothing.

And now, Democrats have no bargaining chips left.

The shutdown was the only thing forcing Republicans to negotiate. Ending it lets the GOP look reasonable, gives Trump a political win, and leaves millions of Americans hoping a party that’s tried to kill the ACA for years suddenly decides to save it.

Worse, if premiums spike next year — and they will without an extension — those same eight Democrats will have to face families who ask why they blinked.

Still, 4,000 people keep their jobs, federal programs like SNAP get funded again, and families won’t go through the holidays without paychecks or government services collapsing around them.

What Democrats can still do

If Republicans don’t keep their word by January 30, Democrats have options. And if Republicans do keep the promise and hold a vote, Democrats get something politically valuable: a roll-call vote showing exactly which Republicans went on record opposing affordable healthcare.

Heading into the midterms — when people are staring down higher premiums — that’s powerful ammunition.

“Look at who voted not to help you” writes itself.

Then came the Senate’s surprise…

When the House got the shutdown bill from the Senate, lawmakers discovered a quiet addition: a new rule that’s retroactive to 2022. It allows any senator to sue the federal government — personally — for at least $500,000 per violation if their phone records are pulled without notice. Taxpayers would foot the bill.

House members in both parties were furious. None of them had been told this was in the bill.

Why sneak it in? To understand that, you have to go back to 2022.

Arctic Frost: the investigation they don’t want you to remember

In 2022, the Biden FBI launched "Arctic Frost," an investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election — including the fake electors scheme and the pressure campaign on Mike Pence.

Roughly 160 Republicans were looked at, and nearly 200 subpoenas were issued.

As part of that investigation, the FBI obtained phone records from eight Republican senators and one Republican House member. Not content. Not wiretaps. Just metadata — to reconstruct the timeline of communications around January 6.

They were targeted because of their proximity to Trump’s efforts and because Trump’s phone records were mysteriously silent for seven hours during the attack.

All of this was lawful. But Republicans claimed their phones had been “tapped.”

Senators Cruz, Blackburn, and Hawley blasted a non-disclosure order signed by Chief Judge James Boasberg that prevented carriers from informing lawmakers for a year. They argued the judge assumed — without evidence — that members of Congress might destroy evidence or intimidate witnesses.

The FBI later disbanded its public-corruption group (CR-15) and fired agents after backlash over how the subpoenas were handled.

Why the retroactive rule matters

The new rule — buried in the shutdown bill — gives those same senators the power to sue the government immediately.

But it does not apply to House members, which infuriated them.

It also requires service providers to notify Senate offices if a request for a senator’s data is made — and blocks judges from issuing secrecy orders unless the senator is under criminal investigation.

House members passed the bill anyway because rejecting it would have kept the government shut down even longer. But they’re already talking about reversing the rule once the immediate crisis is over.

Additionally, Senate Republicans say they’ll consider extending ACA subsidies if Democrats agree to stricter rules on health insurance coverage for abortions.

More fallout: After Kansas Republicans hit the breaks on their efforts to gerrymander their state after election night, Indiana state Senate Republicans announced they are doing the same because they don’t have enough votes. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) says he’ll continue to push for it.