People are pictured walking inside the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport on Nov. 6, 2025.

WASHINGTON ‒ The federal government is back open after a record-breaking 43-day shutdown ‒ but the effects from the nation's longest-ever shutdown could linger.

President Donald Trump late Wednesday night signed a bill to fund the government through Jan. 30 shortly after the legislation cleared the House of Representatives by a 222-209 vote.

Shuttered preschool and food benefit programs are reopening. So are federal agencies and national parks and other landmarks. Furloughed federal workers have returned to work. Government data crucial to understanding the American economy will start circulating again.

Yet even with the president's signature, delayed and canceled flights are expected to persist this week. Federal workers still need their backpay, and millions of Americans are waiting for food stamps that were halted during the shutdown.

Catch up with live updates from the USA TODAY Network.

Affording holiday meals could be an extra struggle for SNAP recipients, study says

SNAP recipients, who have already been grappling with food insecurity as they await full payments of their federal food assistance that were delayed due to the government shutdown, are going to struggle with holiday meals, according to a new survey.

According to a survey completed for CouponFollow, 72% of SNAP recipients polled said they were worried they wouldn't be able to afford enough food for themselves and their families this holiday season.

"A vast number of families are facing reduced budgets, and they either have to skip meals, go to food pantries or opt out of hosting for the holidays altogether," said Clay Cary, senior trends analyst and retail expert at CouponFollow.

"The bottom line is, even if full benefits were restored tomorrow, the financial strain many households are under won’t disappear overnight, as this is a systemic challenge, not a seasonal one," Cary said.

‒ Betty Lin-Fisher

Is another government shutdown fight around the corner?

The longest-ever government shutdown is finally over.

But Congress doesn't have much time to avoid another. The next funding deadline, Jan. 30, is fewer than three months away.

Unless lawmakers take action prior to the end of the year, the Jan. 30 cutoff date will also land just weeks after health insurance subsidies expire at the end of the 2025, skyrocketing premiums across the country for enrollees in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Even if any tentative Obamacare legislation did make it through the Senate, it would probably face an even worse fate in the House of Representatives (not to mention the threat of a presidential veto).

‒ Zachary Schermele

Federal workers expected to start getting back pay as soon as this weekend

After many government employees missed more than a month of work during the shutdown, they could start getting back pay as soon as this weekend.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed to USA TODAY that departments are aiming to send out checks covering back pay between Nov. 15-19, depending on the agency.

Because agencies have different payroll providers and payment processes, timing could vary, the official said. Most agencies are currently in the middle of their pay period, so the check only covers through Nov. 1 – pay for the rest of November, so far, will be in workers' next paycheck.

See the full projected timeline by agency here.

‒ Melina Khan

Shutdown slowed economy, cost 60,000 non-federal jobs: White House

Kevin Hassett, director of the Trump’s National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House the shutdown cost about $15 billion per week and slowed the national economy about 1% to 1.5%, which cost about 60,000 non-federal workers their jobs.

Given concerns about the economy, Hassett said the administration reduced inflation but that “there’s still work to do.”

“The first thing that we’ve done stopped the runaway inflation,” Hassett said. “The second thing we’ve done is we’ve pushed policies that have caused incomes to grow a lot. But we understand that people understand, as people look at their pocketbooks to go to the grocery store, that there’s still work to do.”

‒ Bart Jansen

HUD to resume housing programs as shutdown ends: secretary

Scott Turner, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said the department would immediately resume services for the elderly, for housing and access to health care.

The Federal Housing Administration will resume review of reverse mortgage loans for the elderly that were suspended during the shutdown. The backlog in reviewing the applications grew to 60 transactions per day during the funding lapse.

The department’s program to repair 10,000 homes with lead hazards was stalled during the shutdown and will resume.

Public housing authorities risked the loss of aid for 4 million families that depending on those residences if the shutdown had continued.

The department is considering health-care projects totaling $2 billion to create 12,800 more beds in care facilities across 30 states, after mortgages were frozen during the funding lapse.

“This needless shutdown caused real harm – disrupting lives and livelihoods,” Turner said in a statement. “Without delay, HUD will immediately restore stability and resume full operational capacity to support the communities we serve.”

‒ Bart Jansen

Furloughed federal employees told to return to work

The Office of Management and Budget quickly put out guidance following the end of the shutdown that directs federal agencies to open, and furloughed workers to return starting Nov. 13.

OMB Director Russell Vought sent out the letter to department and agency heads Nov. 12 saying “employees we were on furlough due to the absence of appropriations should be directed to return to work on November 13.”

An estimated 750,000 workers were furloughed during the shutdown.

‒ Zac Anderson

'The country has never been in better shape,' Trump says

Trump blasted Democrats as signed the bill at 10:25 p.m. ET Wednesday night, accusing "extremists in the other party" of creating the shutdown for political reasons.

“Don’t forget, when we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they did to our country," Trump said from the Oval Office.

As he signed the legislation, Trump was flanked by Speaker Mike Johnson, other House Republicans, as well as representatives from the aviation industry and other businesses.

"The country has never been in better shape," Trump said. "We went through this short-term disaster with the Democrats because they thought it would be good politically. It's an honor now to sign this incredible bill and get our country working again."

Trump thanks eight Senate Democrats who broke ranks

All but two House Republicans voted for the bill, and only six Democrats voted for it. The vote came after the Senate on Monday night approved a deal that was brokered by eight Senate Democrats who relented from policy demands over health care and joined Republicans to end the shutdown.

For weeks, Senate Democrats had demanded the extension of expiring subsidies in the Affordable Care Act as part of a shutdown deal. Instead, the bill only guarantees a Senate vote in December on the health care subsidies.

Trump thanked the eight Senate Democrats, saying they “finally did the right think in voting to end this craziness.”

Johnson won't commit to vote on extending Obamacare subsidies

Johnson would not commit to bringing an extension of healthcare subsidies to the floor after the shutdown vote.

A future vote on the subsidies was at the core of an agreement that eight Senate Democrats cut with Republicans in that chamber to reopen the government.

Johnson wasn’t among them.

The GOP leader said at a post-vote press conference that he’d be willing to work with anyone in Congress who wants to lower the cost of healthcare. But he said the Affordable Care Act does not do that.

“The Republicans would demand a lot of reforms before anything like that was ever possible,” he said.

Are flights still canceled?

Despite the shutdown ending, airlines and aviation experts cautioned travelers should prepare for further flight disruptions throughout the week.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last week ordered flight reductions at 40 major airports due to staffing issues with Transportation Security Administration workers and air traffic controllers. Flight cuts were supposed to step up to 10% by Friday, but the Department of Transportation and FAA announced on Wednesday that cuts would hold steady at the current 6% due to a “rapid decline in controller callouts.”

“If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a news release on Wednesday.

‒ Eve Chen

When will SNAP benefits return?

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.

Trump had halted full SNAP payments amid the shutdown, setting off a legal fight with Democratic-led states that reached the Supreme Court.

At least 16 states already released full benefit amounts over the weekend, according to research by the Food Research and Action Center. Another 13 issued or began issuing partial or mixed payments.

Jessica Garon, a spokesperson for the American Public Human Services Association, told the Associated Press that most states will be able to issue full benefits within three days after they’re given the green light.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government reopens after record shutdown, but impacts could linger. Latest updates.

Reporting by Joey Garrison, Zachary Schermele and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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