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The US government returned to normal operations after President Donald Trump signed the bill that ended the 43-day shutdown. Congress pushed the measure through after days of pressure from agencies, airport workers, and contractors. The closure stretched longer than any in US history. It shook federal systems, strained families, and hit several sectors that rely heavily on government work.
The shutdown caused real trouble in places far from Washington. Federal contracts stopped. Companies that depended on them cut hours or paused projects. Tribal communities felt the stress quickly. The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux slaughtered buffalo to help families who lost access to food assistance.
Students who rely on SNAP ran out of options and turned to campus support centers. The halt hit them especially hard because the October aid never arrived. The strain kept growing through October and early November.
Air travel also struggled. Fewer air traffic controllers showed up because they had not received paychecks. That shortage pushed delays higher each week. More than 2,500 flights were canceled nationwide. Airports tried to keep schedules intact, yet the pressure created long lines and slowed operations nationwide.
The fight started at the end of September when government funding expired. House Republicans approved a short-term plan to keep agencies open. They needed Democratic votes in the Senate, and that’s where the breakdown took hold. Democrats wanted an agreement on expiring health insurance tax credits. Republicans resisted.
Both sides dug in publicly. Behind closed doors, a few lawmakers continue to discuss. Those smaller conversations grew more serious last weekend. They developed the framework for the bill that moved this week. Democratic leaders protested sections that diverted funds from Medicaid and Medicare, arguing that the cuts would undermine health care access.
Even so, Speaker Mike Johnson pushed forward, saying the country needed a resolution before the situation worsened. The Senate cleared the deal 60-40, ending the long standoff.
Now, agencies are left to reconstruct the work that was delayed for weeks. The shutdown halted the publication of major global economic indicators. The employment statistics for October were not released, but the inflation data were released. Thus, the Federal Reserve has to deal with an unclear situation regarding its December meeting.
Currently, the Fed authorities have to rely on a combination of data. They might opt for a steady rate policy while waiting for more precise signals. On the other hand, they could contemplate reductions if the economy reveals new signs of weakness. The agencies anticipate gradually filling the data gaps, although the process will be very slow and may take several weeks.
The shutdown also froze progress in financial and crypto regulation. The SEC, CFTC, IRS, and OCC all return to large backlogs. Their staff must restart reviews, enforcement actions, and rulemaking that sat untouched for more than a month. Several crypto-related ETF applications stalled during furloughs. Those reviews begin again, and markets now watch for movement.
The shutdown ended after weeks of tension that slowed the country’s core systems and disrupted essential services. Agencies now race to restore normal operations and rebuild missing data. Regulators return to heavy workloads as the government works to stabilize conditions across the economy.
