What’s in the bill to reopen the federal government?
By Tami Luhby, CNN
(CNN) — The longest federal government shutdown in history is over.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday night signed the compromise bill that ended the 43-day shutdown soon after the legislation passed the House.
The Senate approved the package on Monday evening. Eight Democratic senators defied their party’s leadership to support the legislation, dropping their key demand that the bill extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to lapse at year’s end.
As part of the deal, the Senate will vote on the enhanced subsidies next month. Notably, the agreement does not guarantee that the beefed-up assistance will be extended.
Here’s what’s in the package, based on summaries provided by Congress:
Funding federal agencies
The legislation provides funding for most federal agencies through January 30.
That means if the two parties can’t come to an agreement on another temporary spending measure or a package that funds agencies through the end of the fiscal year, much of the federal government could shut down again in less than three months.
The legislation, however, provides full-year funding for the US Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch and military construction and veterans affairs. So these functions will continue even if an impasse reoccurs on Capitol Hill.
Food assistance
The package fully funds the food stamp program for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was thrust into the spotlight during the shutdown after the USDA said it would not dip into a contingency fund to provide at least partial benefits for November. Legal battles ensued, resulting in some of the nation’s nearly 42 million food stamp beneficiaries receiving their full allocations over the past week, others receiving partial benefits and still others waiting for any assistance. Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins told CNN that all recipients should see their full funding by Monday.
The deal also replenishes SNAP’s contingency fund and fully funds child nutrition programs, including free and reduced-price school meals.
Plus, it provides $8.2 billion for the WIC food assistance program, which serves roughly 7 million pregnant women, new moms and young kids. That’s a $603 million increase over the past fiscal year. WIC’s contingency fund will also be replenished.
The legislation provides $460 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which supplies more than 700,000 low-income senior citizens with monthly food boxes.
Congressional and Supreme Court security
Concerned about their own security and that of their staffs, lawmakers included $203.5 million in new funding to beef up security measures and protect members of the House and Senate in the package. It also provides funding to support Capitol complex physical security requirements and cybersecurity practices.
The bill also includes $852 million for the US Capitol Police and provides an additional $28 million for the protection and security of Supreme Court justices.
Veterans medical care
The package provides $115 billion for discretionary Veterans Affairs’ medical care, a bump of more than $2.3 billion from the prior fiscal year. It includes funding for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund, rural health, caregivers, women’s health, veterans’ homelessness prevention, mental health and child care.
Federal workers
The legislation also guarantees retroactive pay for the roughly 1.4 million federal workers who were furloughed or worked without pay during the shutdown. Many missed two full paychecks, as well as a partial one, though they should receive their back pay in coming days.
Though President Donald Trump signed a bill during the 2018-2019 impasse that ensured federal workers would get back pay, the administration called into question whether furloughed employees would be compensated when this shutdown ended.
The package also reverses several agencies’ efforts to implement staffing reductions during the shutdown, stating that workforce levels will return to what they had been prior to the lapse in appropriations. It also prevents additional layoffs of federal employees through January 30.
At least seven agencies sent reduction-in-force notices to roughly 4,000 workers in October, though the actions were paused by a federal court.
Notifying lawmakers under investigation
The deal includes a section that requires the Justice Department and FBI to notify the Senate when a lawmaker is under investigation and if their personal information is being subpoenaed.
The language, tucked into one of the appropriations bills,?comes after Senate Republicans released FBI records related to an investigation called Arctic Frost, which pertained to the fake elector scheme from 2020 where Trump allies pressured GOP?electors to register electoral college votes for Trump from states that former president Joe Biden won.
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, slammed the inclusion of the measure, saying it would provide millions of dollars to eight senators investigated in a probe around the fake elector scheme from the 2020 presidential election.
House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X Wednesday that Republicans lawmakers are introducing a standalone bill to repeal the provision.
Hemp products ban
The package includes a controversial measure that prevents the unregulated sale of hemp-based or hemp-derived products from being sold online, in gas stations or in corner stores.
The measure does not affect non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.
Hemp, a variety of cannabis, was legalized as part of the 2018 Farm Bill.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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