After 43 days, the federal government shutdown that grounded flights, threatened food aid programs and forced tens of thousands of federal workers to miss multiple paychecks is now over.
President Donald Trump late Wednesday night, Nov. 12, signed a bill to fund the government through Jan. 30, shortly after the legislation cleared the House of Representatives. It had passed through the Senate earlier in the week, after lawmakers worked through the weekend to try to clinch a deal.
On the morning of Nov. 13, the government is yawning back to life, as various services and agencies begin to restart business-as-usual after up to six weeks of closure.
Yet while the shutdown is now over, the process of returning to pre-Oct. 1 standards won’t be instantaneous, and the effects of the crisis will linger.
The Office of Management and Budget has directed federal agencies to open, and for furloughed workers to return to work starting Nov. 13. National parks are set to return to full operations soon. Officials from the nation’s largest museum system, the Smithsonian, say they’ll begin reopening their dozen-plus centers and locations this week.
Delayed and canceled flights are expected to persist this week. Federal workers still need their back pay, and millions of Americans are waiting for food stamps that were halted during the shutdown.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, payments to most states should continue within 24 hours of the government’s reopening.
Contributing: Joey Garrison and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.