What’s in the Senate shutdown deal?

For more political coverage and analysis, subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our weekly political newsletter, here.

The nation is about to emerge from the longest government shutdown in history.

The US Senate passed a bill Monday night to end the shutdown by a vote of 60 to 40, with seven Democrats and one independent voting with Republicans to get the package over filibuster blocks.

The deal came together in chunks. Appropriators spent long days drafting three specific attached spending bills that helped some senators get on board. Separately, a small group of 11 members of the Democratic Caucus met repeatedly to see if they could find a way to support ending the shutdown.

By the time of the vote, eight of them remained.

So what’s in this thing? First, the big headlines. This deal:

• Most of the government is funded until January 30.
• It funds the Department of Veterans Affairs, Military Construction, the Department of Agriculture, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Congress itself through September 2026.
• Orders to reimburse states for any federal expenses they paid during the shutdown. (This includes states that paid for SNAP benefits during the shutdown.)
• Reverses mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown and prevents new mass layoffs through the end of January.

Last night, I took the time to read the details closely. The deal is a combination of four separate parts.

The total number of pages is 328 pages of legislative text. If you read all the documents, including the explanatory statements, it amounts to a little more than that. But it’s not long by modern “big bill” standards.

A few things stood out outside Titles.

Mass layoffs of workers during the closure period. The bill orders these matters to be repealed quickly, within five days of the enactment of this bill.

protection. There is the equivalent of a cargo plane’s money being funneled into security officials.

• United States Infantry. An additional $30 million to protect judges and executive branch officials for the next two fiscal years.
• supreme court. An additional $28 million for judges’ security.
• US Capitol Police. $30 million for mutual aid and training, an increase of $45 million over last year’s funding.
• Members of Congress. About $203 million for member security, distributed across each chamber.

Senators can sue. It is notable that section 213 of the bill has been deleted from the summary and explanatory statement of the legislative appropriations bill. (Page 52 of text.) This orders any phone or other communications provider to notify the Senate office if prosecutors request disclosure of Senate data. Senators could sue for $500,000 if that doesn’t happen, including retroactive to 2022.

This appears to allow lawsuits from eight Republican senators whose statements were subpoenaed in 2023 as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation into President Donald Trump and the 2021 Capitol attack. Republican senators only learned of the move this year, angering them.

Tags. The bill contains dozens upon dozens of earmarks, or “community projects” that lawmakers have designated for their states or districts. The easiest way to see this is in the accompanying explanatory data. In the USDA Statement, go to page 35. In the Veterans and Military Construction Statement, go to page 33.

Some odds and ends.

• Ban unregulated cannabis products. The bill includes a broad ban on cannabis products with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in them. These were not intentionally regulated, but some lawmakers criticized them as intoxicating and unexpectedly dangerous in the years that followed. The industry is objecting to the move, claiming it could stifle their business, and some say it is causing “too much panic”.
• Wake program. The program, which provides nutrition to millions of low-income mothers, infants and children, receives a funding increase of $603 million, bringing its total to $8.2 billion. This means that all eligible individuals should receive full benefits.
• Military construction. The Army received an $844 million increase over Trump’s budget request for “critical infrastructure investments.” This is $1.1 billion more than the last funding level.
• Ban new Chinese technology. The bill prohibits the VA from purchasing technology from listed Chinese manufacturers.

And there’s more. These are just some of the highlights.

What’s the next step? These bills are like onions, keep peeling and we will find more.

Meanwhile, the House watched on Wednesday evening. That’s when a potential final vote on this bill in Congress is scheduled.