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The government shutdown is over. The problems aren’t.
After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in US history is set to end. Congress reached a budget agreement on Wednesday night that will officially end a stalemate that sidelined most federal workers and caused chaos for more than a month.
But the government reopening won’t make the problems Americans have been dealing with due to the shutdown magically disappear, writes BI’s Allie Kelly, Taylor Rains, and Dominick Reuter.
Federal employees who were furloughed or worked without pay for weeks will start to get paychecks. But in some cases, employees might have dug themselves a hole that could be difficult to get out of. BI previously spoke to federal workers who shared concerns about missing bills and going into debt due to the missing paychecks.
Another area that’ll take some time to recover is air travel. A combination of air traffic controller shortages and FAA flight reductions has led to mass cancellations and general chaos at airports around the country. (One Republican lawmaker chose to ride his motorcycle roughly 16 hours back to DC to vote rather than risk a flight delay or cancellation.)
There have been some improvements to flying, but it won’t happen overnight. Experts said it’ll take up to two weeks for a full recovery, which would put it just ahead of one of the busiest times to travel in the US: Thanksgiving.
It’s also important to remember this isn’t a long-term solution.
The newest deal only funds the federal government through January 30. That means Congress will need to continue negotiating, and healthcare spending is likely to be at the top of the list.
That was at the center of the most recent shutdown. Among the issues were subsidies that reduce premiums for many Americans, which expire at the end of the year. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also reversed Medicaid reductions that Democrats attempted to reverse.
All of that means many people could see a big spike in their 2026 healthcare costs.
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