US Government Reopens As New Funding Bill Passes
Language
Reading Level
Listen to Article
Alignment
The federal government reopened on November 13, 2025, ending a 43-day shutdown, the longest in US history. This followed President Donald Trump’s signing of a temporary funding bill late on November 12, which let federal employees return to work and allowed government services to resume.
The shutdown began on October 1, 2025, after US lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a new annual budget or a short-term funding plan to keep the government open. About 650,000 federal workers were furloughed. More than 600,000 had to keep working without pay. As a result, many government services were paused or reduced. Even air travel was affected. Flights from major airports were cut by 10 percent after air traffic controllers, required to work without pay, stopped showing up. This caused delays and disruptions for travelers across the nation.
The bill signed by the president addresses these urgent issues. It provides back pay for federal workers affected by the shutdown. It also funds a few key agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, until September 2026.
But most other government programs are only funded until January 30, 2026. The bill also does not address the primary issue that led to the shutdown — extending credits to lower healthcare premiums for millions of Americans. Lawmakers have promised to resolve this in a separate bill before the end of the year. They also aim to prevent another shutdown by agreeing on a longer-term budget for the remaining programs by the end of January.
Resources: Washingtonpost.com, CNN.com. NPR.org

Get the Workbook for this article!
Workbook contains: Article, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking Questions, Vocabulary in Context (+ answers), Multiple Choice Quiz (+ answers), Parts of Speech Quiz (+ answers), Vocabulary Game (+ answers)Cite Article
Learn Keywords in this Article
10 Comments
- chocolaterose751 dayFinally! It took them long enough!
- yuki-chicken1 dayme too so glad
- mypagibulahi2 daysGlad the shutdown is over so families can get the assistance they need.
- qwertyasd3332 daysNice!
- izakwebb653 daysEvelynn are you okay
- gimkitlover5 daysFinally!
- evalynn5 daysThey shut down on my birthday. Some kids and people live off the government's money, like EBT food stamps. When the government shut down, the money stopped coming, causing most to cut back on the food. My family was affected by this, and we went for a while without money.
- dandysworld4evaabout 17 hoursI'm so sorry that happened to you. 😢
- zysawytoluba2 daysHappy late birthday! Sorry that had to happen to you.
- milkfanforever4 daysI am so sorry to hear that. I hope you are fine.