What the House can do to get back on track

IN THIS EDITION

The federal government is back open. Now what?

Oops! Next funding package hits snags

NDAA reaches final stretch

The Vault: ‘Chair Waters’ says she isn’t going anywhere

THE TOP

The federal government is back open. Now what?

Happy Thursday morning.

The U.S. government is finally open again after a 43-day shutdown.

Six House Democrats joined all but two House Republicans Wednesday night to vote to reopen the government through Jan. 30, ending a particularly pathetic chapter for our national political leaders. The final vote was 222-209.

The House Democrats who voted for the package were Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Don Davis (N.C.), Tom Suozzi (N.Y.), Adam Gray (Calif.) and Jared Golden (Maine). All are from swing districts, while Golden is retiring.

Two Republicans voted no: Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Greg Steube (Fla.).

Two members didn’t vote — Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). Watson Coleman had a medical problem. McCaul’s office didn’t comment.

So who won? No one. This record-breaking shutdown was bad for the country, bad for the economy and especially bad for Congress as an institution — particularly the House. It was bad for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, it was bad for law enforcement, bad for military service members.

And closest to home, it was bad for the legions of Capitol Hill aides and employees who had to work without getting paid.

There were two competing visions about how this impasse would end. Democrats swore that President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune would cave and negotiate on health care. Republicans said they wouldn’t — and they didn’t. After more than 40 days of stalemate, Democrats folded a hand that was getting worse by the moment.

This shutdown was about one thing: expiring Obamacare tax credits and what that means for millions of ACA enrollees nationwide.

At the start of the shutdown, Democrats asserted the impasse was also about reversing GOP Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, plus Trump’s impoundment authority. But that only confused the issue. This was about the expiration of those ACA tax credits on Dec. 31.

Now it’s on Johnson and Thune to figure out if and how the Republican Party will address health care costs. So while the Democrats might’ve been responsible for the shutdown, Republicans face some very tough choices moving forward. The next few months are strewn with political landmines for the GOP.

This episode ended on a sour note for the Johnson-Thune relationship.

Senate Republicans quietly inserted a provision into the FY2026 Legislative Branch appropriations bill that allows GOP senators caught up in the Jan. 6 investigation to sue the federal government over the secret disclosure of their phone records. Senators can be awarded up to $500,000 for each violation.

Johnson said he was unaware that the Senate included the language and was very angry about it. The House will take up a bill next week to get rid of the provision, although it’s unclear if Thune and Senate Republicans will let it go anywhere.

Overall, this episode has seen the power of the House GOP leadership increase dramatically. Johnson singlehandedly kept the House out of session for six weeks despite an uproar from Democrats. He prevented Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) from being sworn in for an unprecedented period of time.

What now? The damage that’s been done to Congress as an institution is almost incalculable. The House has been completely shut down for 54 days in the midst of this crisis. Members were home all that time — and getting paid.

From a practical standpoint, the House is behind the eight ball. Committees have been frozen, unable to move legislation or even socialize policies with members. The chamber has been in session just 23 days since July 1.

After being clobbered in Virginia and New Jersey elections last week, many Republicans feel as if they have a political imperative to pass legislation between now and next summer, when Congress essentially closes down for the midterm.

“It’s very simple: vote your district,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said. “Focus on affordability in every single aspect of people’s lives. And when it comes to immigration, lead with compassion.

They have no shortage of items to bring up. First up, there’s health care.

Democrats’ shutdown fight put a massive political spotlight on surging health care costs, and that has Republicans looking for options. Talks among House Republicans who want to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies are picking up, and some backers are keeping their options open to secure a path to the floor.

The Obamacare cliff is the immediate challenge facing lawmakers. The subsidies expire Dec. 31, and Thune promised a vote before then.

Some Republicans are trying to put together a broader health care package, eager for a response to rising prices that doesn’t involve boosting Obamacare. But that would be an ambitious project that’s going to be difficult to pull off, especially if bipartisanship is off the table.

Trump said again Wednesday night that he wanted to give subsidies to individuals, not to insurance companies.

Johnson has an incentive to get moving. He’s going to want to head off any discharge petition — Democrats filed one that has a three-year extension, which isn’t palatable to Republicans. But also Johnson is not going to want to get jammed by the Senate, which is going to move a package before the end of the year.

If the GOP won’t agree to extend the enhanced Obamacare credits, don’t expect Democrats to cooperate on other health-care options.

“I’m just gonna tell you the main thing that has to be done is to address the health-care crisis. In particular, the issue with the [Obamacare] tax credits,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Pallone added that “Medicaid cuts, cuts to hospitals, cuts to nursing homes” are all part of the mix too.

The federal highway bill needs to be renewed. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) says he wants to use the opportunity to build new roads and bridges. This is something that the White House is interested in. Graves wants this bill passed by the spring.

Graves is also spearheading an effort to overhaul FEMA. The bill would streamline the agency’s processes and make the director a member of the president’s cabinet, removing it from DHS.

The annual defense authorization bill needs to get passed by the end of this year.

And there’s the appropriations process, which Congress has 78 days to finish. More about that in a moment.

Also: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is our guest on Fly Out Day today. Subscribe here!

– Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Laura Weiss

Exciting news! Punchbowl News is returning to the Texas Tribune Festival today for a full day of programming. If you’re in Austin, Texas, make sure you check out our programming!

We kick off at 9 a.m. CT with Jake Tapper. Later in the day, we’ll hold sessions with Jon Ralston, Greg Bluestein and Jennifer Palmieri; a one-on-one chat with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas); and a conversation in partnership with BlackRock featuring John Kelly of BlackRock, Brad McCutcheon of the Plano Firefighters Association, and former Texas Longhorns football coach Mack Brown.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Oops! Next funding package hits snags

The federal government just reopened and yet the next funding fight is already on the horizon.

As part of the deal to end the government shutdown, Congress cleared a three-bill FY2026 funding package covering Legislative Branch, MilCon-Va and Agriculture.

But the next potential minibus is already facing problems. Appropriators haven’t even settled on how they will package the remaining bills — not a good sign for the Jan. 30 deadline.

Top Republican appropriators are eyeing a combination of five FY2026 spending bills for the next minibus. The Senate teed up five bills: Transportation-HUD, Defense, Labor-HHS, Commerce-Justice-Science and Interior. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) wanted Interior added to the pack.

Passing CJS makes that package more complicated than it already is. Some lawmakers want to use CJS to strip out a provision from the CR funding package that would allow senators to sue the government for up to $500,000 if their phone data is searched by federal investigators. That would be a hard sell for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who backed the measure.

But this has quickly become a red line for nearly every House Republican, as we noted. Speaker Mike Johnson said he discussed the issue with Thune. Johnson said he and other House Republicans were “very angry” that Senate Republicans included the provision.

Topline talks. GOP and Democratic leadership haven’t yet settled topline spending numbers for FY2026, which appropriators usually need to finish the Defense and Labor-HHS bills, Cole said. The two chambers are currently tens of billions of dollars apart on those two bills.

“If our leadership and the Senate leadership and the administration want to engage in that, that’s fine, or we can continue to operate the way that we are now, which is taking their numbers, our numbers, and finding some point in between them that allows us to go ahead,” Cole said. “That may be the best way to proceed.”

Republican and Democratic appropriators across both chambers have also had more conversations recently. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), the National Security-State cardinal, said he spoke with his Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii).

Diaz-Balart is optimistic the chambers can agree on that bill, which covers foreign aid programs that the Trump administration rolled back in rescissions packages.

“What would not be acceptable is a year-long CR on the remaining bills,” Diaz-Balart said.

House Democrats. House Democrats aren’t giving up on their demands that funding bills have some guardrails against future rescissions.

Top House Appropriations Committee Democrat Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) said ensuring there won’t be more rescissions is a priority for her as appropriators try to move more bills. DeLauro was the only one of the “Four Corners” appropriators not to sign off on the CR and first minibus.

“Look, I want to see the appropriations process move,” DeLauro said. “I’m a ranking member on the Appropriations Committee. I’ve chaired the committee. That’s what my job is. But we’re also going to deal with what is included in the bills.”

– Samantha Handler and Hannah Campbell

DEFENSE

NDAA reaches final stretch

Top defense hawks are nearing agreement on the annual defense policy bill, with leading lawmakers hoping to meet next week to hammer out a compromise package.

The beginning of those so-called “Big Four” meetings between the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees indicates the panels are reaching the homestretch for completing work on the FY2026 NDAA. But it’s unclear if the final text of the bill will drop before Thanksgiving, which has become an unofficial deadline for lawmakers each year.

Before that compromise plan comes out, lawmakers will have to find agreement on key areas such as the overall topline of the legislation. House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), in a brief interview Wednesday, downplayed the issue — even as he acknowledged it’s still among the outstanding topics lawmakers have to work through.

“It’s not a big problem,” Rogers told us. “We’re not that far apart.”

While the House NDAA endorsed the Trump administration’s defense budget request, the Senate bill would authorize some $32 billion more for the military.

Rogers said lawmakers are “pretty close” to producing a final version of the NDAA. He wants to see the compromise bill taken up on the House floor on Dec. 7 or Dec. 8. The Senate, Rogers said, would vote on it afterward.

Here’s some news. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) is leading a bipartisan group of House members in pushing to continue a network of Navy centers that support nearly 50,000 reserve sailors.

In a letter to leaders of the both chambers’ Armed Services panels, lawmakers urged for the removal of language in the Senate version of the NDAA that would get rid of the Navy Reserve Center system.

Instead, the 19 lawmakers who signed the missive argued that any Navy Reserve structuring changes should be flagged to the Hill by military service leaders “along with their plans to fix them.”

– Briana Reilly and Anthony Adragna

THE CAMPAIGN

News. Elect Democratic Women is endorsing former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink in the competitive Democratic primary for Michigan’s 7th District. Brink is running against Matt Maasdam in the primary for a chance to take on freshman Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.).

— Max Cohen

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