Name: U.S. government opens up again but deep political divisions remain
Uploaded: 2025-11-14T09:00:14.658Z
Duration: 1 min 33 s
Description: The U.S. government lumbered back to life on Thursday (November 13) after the longest shutdown in U.S. history snarled air traffic, cut food assistance to low-income Americans and forced more than 1 million workers to go unpaid for more than a month. But the deep political divisions that caused the 43-day shutdown in the first place remain unresolved.

The U.S. government lumbered back to life on Thursday (November 13) after the longest shutdown in U.S. history snarled air traffic, cut food assistance to low-income Americans and forced more than 1 million workers to go unpaid for more than a month. But the deep political divisions that caused the 43-day shutdown in the first place remain unresolved.

Washington

Federal employees in Washington, D.C. resumed work following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which left over a million workers unpaid for more than a month and disrupted essential services such as food aid and air travel. Some museums and government programs, including the SNAP food program, are set to resume operations as funding is restored.

Despite the reopening, significant political disagreements remain, with the current stopgap funding only temporarily halting President Donald Trump's efforts to reduce federal spending and workforce. The agreement does not address key Democratic priorities, and another shutdown is possible when the funding expires at the end of January.

U.S. government opens up again but deep political divisions remain

Federal workers returned to their jobs in Washington, D.C. on Thursday after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The shutdown forced more than one million workers to go unpaid for more than a month and cut food aid to Americans in need. It also disrupted air traffic. But on Thursday, travelers at Reagan National Airport were cautiously optimistic. Today, it's a 45-minute delay, but that's nothing compared to what a lot of people have been through. We've had no problems. Just making sure that my flights leave to part and land on time. I don't get routed somewhere else that I don't want to go. We were lucky that we hadn't been affected. So far, so good. The Smithsonian said some museums along the National Mall would reopen by Friday. And the Agriculture Department said states would get full funding for the SNAP food program within 24 hours. But the deep political divisions that caused the shutdown remain. The stopgap funding passed by Congress does little to stop President Donald Trump from pulling back spending and does not address the health care subsidies that Democrats had wanted to extend before reopening the government. The president is still on track to cut the 2.2 million strong civil service by 300,000 workers by the end of the year. The deal only pauses Trump's broader effort to downsize the federal government until the end of January, meaning another shutdown could come early next year.

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Jerusalem

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Breakdown