AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The House has passed legislation to reopen the government. The bill passed the Senate earlier this week, and President Trump is expected to sign the bill tonight, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh has been following this bill and what comes next and joins us now. Hi, Deirdre.
DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: All right, so after 43 days, Congress has a deal to reopen the government. What is in this deal, exactly?
WALSH: Well, this bill funds most federal agencies through the end of January. It also includes three spending bills that were negotiated between both parties, and those include a full year's funding for some agencies like the Veterans Administration, money for food assistance programs. This also includes a provision to reverse the layoffs that the Trump administration put into place since the start of the shutdown. But one thing it does not include is anything to deal with the central issue that caused the shutdown - the demand from Democrats to extend health care subsidies that are expiring at the end of this year.
CHANG: Right, and we know that most Senate Democrats did not like this deal because it did not address health care subsidies. So how are House Democrats feeling?
WALSH: They're not happy about it either. I mean, many House Democrats coming out of a caucus meeting this morning pointed to results just last week of off-year elections. Democratic candidates won a pair of governor's races, also won some local elections, and they say voters backed the shutdown strategy and thought that Democrats had more leverage to force action on health care. California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna just ripped the compromise.
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RO KHANNA: I think the American people got a raw deal. Twenty million Americans are going to see their premiums skyrocket. I don't think they like the fact that we didn't fight hard enough.
CHANG: Well, health care subsidies, Deirdre, are expiring at the end of December, so is Congress going to do anything before then?
WALSH: It's not a lot of time. I mean, Senate Majority...
CHANG: Yeah.
WALSH: ...Leader John Thune agreed to hold a vote by mid-December on legislation that Democrats are working on. But that's just a couple of weeks before those tax credits expire. There are some Senate Republicans who want to address the issue, but there's no agreement on any details - how long the subsidies would be extended, if they're going to cap them by income level. The Senate Democrats who negotiated this deal say President Trump is really under pressure to engage. They say, you know, more people in red states that backed Trump rely on these subsidies than people in blue states.
CHANG: OK, but that's the Senate side. What about the House side?
WALSH: I mean, House Speaker Mike Johnson hasn't committed to any health care vote in the House, even if the Senate passes something. You know, Democrats believe that rising premiums that people are expected to see very soon get at the heart of cost of living concerns that were front and center in those elections last week. They believe this is something that will resonate in the 2026 midterms. We saw House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries hold a rally on the east front of the Capitol earlier today. He vowed to make this an issue.
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HAKEEM JEFFRIES: House Democrats will continue the fight to address the Republican health care crisis, and House Democrats will fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. This fight is not over. We're just getting started.
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CHANG: OK, that fight isn't over, but assuming the president signs this bill quickly, do you have any idea how long it might take for government services to resume and for workers to see their paychecks again?
WALSH: Well, under the law, federal workers are entitled to back pay, and the guidance is that they should return to work as soon as possible when the bill's signed, and they'll get paid as soon as possible. One thing that we may see as a little bit of a leftover from the shutdown is airport delays due to staffing shortages. The secretary of transportation says they're going to evaluate the restrictions when they look at staffing levels getting back to normal.
CHANG: That is NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Thank you, Deirdre.
WALSH: Thanks, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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