WASHINGTON—The House Rules Committee in the early hours of Nov. 12 passed a motion to advance a bill to a floor vote to end the government shutdown, which is now in its 42nd day.

The tally, taken just after 1:30 a.m., was 8–4 along party lines. The package now heads to a full vote scheduled for Wednesday evening.

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) opened the hearing by noting that the package being considered—which punts funding to Jan. 30 and would fully fund three sectors of government—had been approved by a bipartisan contingent in the Senate.

Foxx also said that Democrats were to blame for the 42-day shutdown. She said in her opening remarks that Democrats should “take ownership of the chaos they’ve unleashed across the nation.”

The Senate passed the funding measure on Nov. 10 thanks to seven Democrats and one independent joining all Republicans but one. Those were Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats.

None are up for reelection in 2026. While some are on pace to face reelection bids later, both Durbin and Shaheen are retiring.

The only Republican to vote against the bill was Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

The Rules Committee hearing marked House lawmakers’ first time back on Capitol Hill for official business in eight weeks.

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in his opening remarks, “Nearly two months ago, the House passed a continuing resolution that would have kept the government open and operating. But instead, Senate Democrats blocked its passage. The result of this political temper tantrum has been the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history.”

During one tense moment in the hearing, House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) was confronted by Cole, who cited Democrat’s past claims that they wouldn’t shut down the government.

“This is the stuff you said you would never do. ‘We would never shut down the government. We would never do this.' That’s exactly what you’ve done,” Cole said. “You’re putting thousands of people out of work.”

Democrats throughout the hearing criticized Republicans during the shutdown for taking a “paid eight-week vacation,” saying that the House should have followed the Senate’s lead in remaining in session until the government shutdown ended.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had adjourned the session following the House’s passage of a stopgap funding bill.

A key Democrat-led issue throughout the hearing also centered around healthcare, their driving issue to justify the shutdown.

Democrats have been calling for a one-year extension of tax subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies, which are due to expire at the end of this year.

Some experts have warned that these subsidies lapsing could cause drastic increases in the premiums for ACA policies. Several Democrats on the panel reported personally hearing from their constituents who are facing premium increases of several thousand dollars next year.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) addressed the panel, calling for an amendment to extend ACA subsidies by three years.

“Republicans have created a healthcare crisis all across America, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health centers are closing all throughout the country because of [the One Big Beautiful Bill Act],” Jeffries said.

“Because of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that already exists ... healthcare for people all across this country is on the brink of becoming unaffordable,” he said.

The measure failed in a party-line vote.

The legislation proposes to fund the government through Jan. 30, 2026. It also includes three full-fiscal-year appropriations bills to fund the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Food and Drug Administration through Sept. 30, 2026. This includes funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

The measure reverses cuts made to the federal workforce during the shutdown. Those employees will receive back pay.

Moreover, the deal guarantees a vote in the second week of December on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Upcoming House Vote

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) opposed an earlier version of the spending agreement in September, expressed support for the new continuing resolution funding bill, according to an email from her spokesperson to The Epoch Times.

“We need to open the government, pay our military, and provide essential services. This CR doesn’t increase spending or set us up for a Christmas omnibus, so the Congresswoman supports it,” the spokesperson wrote.

Spartz and Massie are to vote on the bill in the full floor vote.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) told CNN he was disappointed in the bill being passed by the Senate, and remains a “no” vote.

“I’m a definite no because I see it as a raw deal for 24 million working families who are about to see their premiums more than double. Democrats like me have been fighting to lower health care costs for the American people,” he said.

“The purpose of our fight was not to get a procedural vote in the Senate but not in the House. The purpose was to get a substantive result, the extension of the health care tax credits for 24 million Americans.”

Torres predicted that the extension would fail to materialize.

“This so-called deal does not guarantee the extension of the health care tax credits,” he said. “In fact, it guarantees the Republicans will vote against the extension, which is the exact opposite of what Democrats were fighting for.”

In a post on X, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) called the Senate deal “a hyper-partisan bill that continues to cut investments in infrastructure, cuts funding for rural broadband, cuts programs helping small businesses, and knowingly forces people to pay double or triple their current healthcare premiums, forcing millions of people, including children, off their insurance altogether.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared victory over the Democrats.

“The long national nightmare is almost coming to an end now, the beginning of the end,” he said on CNN.

“And the irony is, it really was a shutdown about nothing. I mean, what we’re voting on is effectively exactly what we offered them several weeks back. We’ve added some appropriations bills now, which we’re in favor of because it’s getting us back to the regular order.”

The House Freedom Caucus, a conservative wing of House Republicans, described the Senate deal that won the support of seven Democrats as “a complete and total win,” according to talking points reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The document assesses the three appropriations bills as consistent with “fiscal restraint and responsibility.”

It also notes that the bill does not limit impoundments or rescissions—two maneuvers that White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has used to curtail spending.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Epoch Times that he will back the deal.

“Subject to reading the ‘print’ of the three bills, if the levels are consistent with what we previously passed, I will support the legislation to end the shutdown,” he said in a text message.

Norman said that he will support it because there is no subsidy extension for Obamacare, and there is no Christmas omnibus spending bill, as the government will be funded through Jan. 30.

“The attempted ’shakedown' by the Democratic Party failed and was seen by every American!!” he said.