A bill to end the record-breaking U.S. government shutdown is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk after more than 42 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1. Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers when the bill prevailed while the majority of Democrats quietly exited the chamber.

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Six Democrats voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill with a 222 to 209 margin. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C.

When the House took its initial vote on federal funding legislation on Sept. 19, just one Democrat — Golden — voted with the GOP.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, however, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., all shared concerns with the measure but said they would not extend the government shutdown over it.

Johnson appeared to placate their and others’ concerns, at least for now, with a promise to vote next week on separate legislation repealing that provision.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told reporters he would vote against the bill over its inclusion, however.

‘I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,’ he told reporters.

He and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the final bill, but their opposition was not enough to sink legislation.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for prolonging the shutdown for little payoff.

‘They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,’ he said.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes full-year federal spending for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — three of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing annually.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

The record-breaking U.S. government shutdown appears to be on a path to finally ending after 43 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government survived a key test vote in the House later Wednesday, teeing it up for final passage in a matter of hours.

That means the bill could hit President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as Wednesday night, likely ending what has been the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The White House announced that Trump would sign the bill in a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘The Administration urges every Member of Congress to support this responsible, good faith product to finally put an end to the longest shutdown in history,’ the statement said.

The bill advanced through a procedural hurdle known as a rule vote, which is where lawmakers decide whether to allow legislation to get debated before a final vote on passage.

Rule votes generally fall along partisan lines and are not an indication of whether a bill will be bipartisan.

The vast majority of House Democrats still oppose the bill, but it’s possible that at least several moderates will defy their leaders to support it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

‘House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,’ Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote.

‘I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,’ Johnson said. ‘It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.’

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

‘What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?’ Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. ‘We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.’

The full House will now vote on the legislation during the 7 p.m. hour.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

‘There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,’ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, ‘I think we can.’

Vice President JD Vance praised President Donald Trump’s ‘bulldozer’ approach to public health, calling it a necessary force that ‘just had to happen,’ during remarks at Wednesday’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit.

The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., was centered on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement — aimed at improving nutrition, eliminating toxins, preserving natural habitats and fighting the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S.

‘That is a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he takes a bulldozer to Overton windows every single day,’ Vance told the HHS secretary during the event. ‘It just had to happen… One of the criticisms that Bobby will always get, and I always think it’s such b——-, excuse my language… [is that] sometimes there’s this attack where people say that conclusion is not supported by the science, or this or that conclusion is a conspiracy theory.’

‘Science, as practiced in its best form, is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it, and you ought to argue against it. You can’t shut down the debate,’ Vance continued. ‘If you look at all the big public health debates that we’ve had in this country over the last 20 or 30 years… they tried to silence the people who were saying things that were outside the Overton window. As we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often that people who were outside the Overton window were actually right, and all the experts were wrong.’

Vance went on to say the country could not advance unless Americans become comfortable with people who are ‘willing to challenge orthodoxy.’

He also vowed to keep Appalachia in the forefront of the conversation, noting residents have higher premature mortality rates due to a long history of being failed by the public health system.

‘You know what really p—– people off — when they realize that their loved ones are dying much sooner than everybody else,’ said Vance, whose autobiography, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ details his own upbringing in Appalachia. ‘That is a big part of the story of what’s going on in Appalachia, and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.’

He described himself as ‘the golden boy’ of Appalachia, admitting he feels guilt about the many people who grew up in families like his and have not had an easy life or the same amount of economic opportunity.

‘That gives me a sense of purpose because I want those people to have the same opportunities that I’ve had,’ Vance said. ‘But it also gives me a great sense of anger, because we never should have gotten to the point that we are today. The reason that we have, is because of failed leadership over generations.’

When discussing the people of Appalachia, he said they are people who, ‘though they don’t have much, would take the shirt off their back and give it to a complete stranger, because that’s what you do.’

‘If you go back to America’s biggest wars — World War I, World War II, Vietnam — which were the counties that filled their draft quotas with volunteers instead of with draftees?’ Vance posed. ‘It’s very often the parts in deep Appalachia where you’ve got grinding poverty, but you’ve also got this incredible love of country.’

‘So if any place in this country deserves not to be left behind, it’s Appalachia… These are people who deserve to live better, healthier lives, but they really have been left behind by this country’s leadership,’ Vance added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accused President Donald Trump of working to push the U.S. and the rest of the globe in the direction of ‘authoritarianism.’

‘Trump’s hostility toward Europe has little to do with his absurd and irrational arguments over Greenland. It has everything to do with his efforts to undermine democracy and move this country and the world toward authoritarianism. Trump does not like free elections, a free media or the right of people to dissent,’ Sanders claimed in a statement posted on X.

‘That is why he hates Europe, with its strong democratic governance, social safety net, and commitment to peacefully resolving disputes. That is why he is sending ICE to invade American cities,’ the left-wing lawmaker continued.

Sanders claimed the president would prefer a world controlled by wealthy ‘oligarchs.’

‘Let’s be clear. Trump would prefer the world to be ruled by his fellow multi-billionaire oligarchs, like his good friends in Saudi Arabia and Russia. These dictators crush political dissent, jail their opponents, and engage in massive kleptocracy,’ he asserted.

‘As patriotic Americans who believe in our Constitution and the rule of law, we will stand with those heroes and heroines who gave their lives to defend our freedoms. Now, in this dangerous moment in American history, it is imperative that all of us, regardless of our political views, come together to confront the grave threat of authoritarianism,’ he declared.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Frustration is boiling over among Democratic ranks against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after walking away from the longest government shutdown on record largely empty-handed.

Some argue that Schumer squandered key leverage and failed to steer his caucus through the chaos to victory. 

‘I think that people did what they could to get us out of the shutdown, but what has worked in the past isn’t working now,’ Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said. ‘And so, we need to meet the moment, and we’re not doing that.’

Slotkin, like others in the Senate Democratic caucus, ‘wanted something deliverable on the price of healthcare.’ The core of their shutdown strategy was to force Republicans and President Donald Trump to make a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies, but that didn’t happen. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued that getting rid of Schumer would be difficult. 

‘Chuck Schumer is part of the establishment,’ Sanders told MSNBC. ‘You can argue, and I can make the case, that Chuck Schumer has done a lot of bad things, but getting rid of him — who’s going to replace him?’

Other Democrats weren’t so resigned.

Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate running to replace Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, placed the collapse of Senate Democrats’ unified front squarely on leadership. 

‘The Democratic Party at the leadership level has become entirely feckless,’ Platner said in a video posted by Our Revolution, a political action organization started as an offshoot of Sanders’ presidential campaign. 

‘What happened last night is a failure of leadership in the most clear terms,’ he said after the Senate passed the bipartisan deal Monday, sending it to the House. ‘Sen. Schumer is the minority leader. It is his job to make sure his caucus is voting along the lines of what’s going to be good for the people of the United States. He could not maintain that.’ 

Schumer and congressional Democrats walked away from the shutdown stalemate in the Senate largely empty-handed, save for some victories on ensuring furloughed federal workers would receive back pay, the reversals of firings made by the Trump administration during the shutdown and future protections for workers.  

Still, they fell far short of their goal to extend the expiring subsidies, which are set to sunset at the end of this year. 

Those subsidies, initially passed as an emergency response to COVID-19 in 2021, were always supposed to be temporary. But Democrats fear that their sudden expiration could leave millions of policyholders with substantially higher premiums overnight if allowed to expire.

But as mounting pressure grew — and no sign of Republicans wavering on the subsidies — eight Democrats voted to put the government on the path to reopening. 

To some onlookers, Schumer had held the party line for as long as possible.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., one of the eight Democrats who voted with Republicans to reopen the government, said she respected Schumer’s leadership.

‘He’s done a good job,’ Masto said. ‘He kept us in the loop and was open to our conversations.’

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., argued that the problem wasn’t Schumer, it was his colleagues. 

‘Sen. Schumer didn’t want this to be the outcome, and I pressed hard for it not to end like this,’ Murphy said. ‘He didn’t succeed, let’s not sugarcoat that. But the problem is, the problem exists, inside the caucus. The caucus has to solve it.’

Republicans, however, spent much of the shutdown arguing that Schumer had waged the shutdown to appease his base — a base that had wanted to see some sort of resistance to Trump.

‘This is how it always would end,’ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on Monday evening. ‘Chuck Schumer has a political problem. He’s afraid of being primaried from the left. And so, the Democrats inflicted this shutdown on the American people in order to prove to their radical left-wing base that they hate Donald Trump.’

‘I think a lot of Americans have suffered as a result of this political stunt,’ Cruz added.

On the other hand, many Democrats made it clear they believed Schumer had failed to effectively mount resistance to Trump’s agenda on healthcare.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten compiled polls dating back to 1985 comparing the popularity of Democratic leaders among Democratic voters. Schumer, he found, was the least popular of them all. 

‘Chuck Schumer — his days are over. If he cannot keep his caucus together, he needs to go,’ Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ‘The View,’ told audiences on Monday.

‘Chuck Schumer has not met this moment, and Senate Democrats would be wise to move on from his leadership,’ Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom summed up his thoughts in a one-word post to X. 

‘Pathetic,’ Newsom said.