House votes Wednesday night to reopen the federal government, after the longest shutdown in U.S. history, as well as fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and Defense Department infrastructure projects for a full year.
The House voted Wednesday night to reopen the federal government, after the longest shutdown in U.S. history, as well as fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and Defense Department infrastructure projects for a full year.
The passage of the legislative package, in a 222-209 vote, brought to a close a 43-day congressional standoff over government funding that shuttered regional VA offices, suspended the GI Bill hotline and forced the Trump administration to shift around billions in funds to pay troops.
Democrats largely voted against the legislation, citing the lack of an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. Without an extension, an estimated 267,000 veterans will be priced out of health care coverage in 2026, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute think tank.
President Donald Trump signed the legislation Wednesday night, ending the shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., committed to holding a vote on the expiring health care subsidies in December.
The funding deal includes a stopgap appropriations bill to fund the government through Jan. 30 as well as three full-year spending measures, including one for the VA and a small portion of the Pentagon budget that funds the modernization of facilities and construction of service member and family housing.
The bills “uphold our nation’s promise to our veterans, empower their lives out of uniform, strengthen quality of life for our military families and support the infrastructure of bases across the globe,” said Republican Reps. Tom Cole of Oklahoma and John Carter of Texas in a joint statement.
The legislation allocates $153 billion in discretionary funding for defense infrastructure programs as well as the VA, with $133.2 billion designated for the VA and $19.7 billion for military construction. Another $263.7 billion is provided for veterans benefits.
A total of $167.7 billion is earmarked for veterans medical care, including $52.6 billion for the VA’s Toxic Exposures Fund to help veterans who were exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances.
The defense part of the bill contains $1.9 billion for military family housing, $1.3 billion for the construction of barracks and other unaccompanied housing, and $1.3 billion for hospitals, schools, child development centers, fitness centers, dining facilities and mess halls.
It allocates $7 billion for the construction and modernization of military infrastructure “critical to warfighter readiness” such as training ranges, maintenance and logistics facilities, storage warehouses, munitions facilities and airfield control towers. Another $2 billion would pay for infrastructure for new and emerging technology such as next generation hangars to support advanced weapon platforms, and $482 million would cover the U.S. share of NATO construction projects.
The legislation notably invests $1.5 billion in the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program to modernize the service’s four public shipyards in Virginia, Maine, Washington state and Hawaii. Trump has stressed the need to revitalize American shipbuilding to compete with China.
Outside of construction, Defense Department spending levels will remain unchanged through January, though lawmakers added several provisions in the stopgap funding bill to give the Pentagon more spending flexibility.
One adds $400 million for the continued development and production of the E-7 Wedgetail radar jet that the Air Force had wanted to cancel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers this summer that the early warning plane was “not survivable.”
The end of the government shutdown will bring back a slew of services for veterans. Since Oct. 1, service members leaving the military have not been able to access transition assistance services, and veterans have not had access to VA regional benefits offices, career counseling and a GI Bill hotline. Grounds maintenance and permanent headstone placement at national cemeteries had also been paused.
Thousands of workers at the VA and Pentagon either worked without pay or were furloughed for six weeks. The legislation passed Wednesday guarantees back pay for all of them and rehires federal employees who were laid off during the shutdown.
- Legislative