The longest government shutdown in history, 43 days that began on October 1 and bled into early November, was not only a matter of missed paychecks, furloughs, closed federal agencies, and jammed air travel. In this Congress Report, congressional expert and Washington D.C. political writer, Jamie Stiehm, analyzes the government shutdown, the roles of Senate and House leaders, and the eventual temporary resolution that reopened the government.
The shutdown was a grueling showdown and leadership test for the four principals, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Both Democratic leaders hail from Brooklyn.
In the end, the Republican side conceded little ground. Democrats, with fresh election wins at their back, forced a December vote on the main issue of spiraling health care costs. Eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus finally crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans and gave Thune the 60 votes he needed (under Senate rules) to pass a “continuing resolution” to re-open the government with no strings attached.
The eight members are:
John Fetterman (Pennsylvania)
Dick Durbin (Illinois), Deputy Leader
Tim Kaine (Virginia)
Jacky Rosen (Nevada)
Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nevada)
Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire)
Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)
Angus King (Independent, Maine)
Their break from party unity ignited their colleagues’ frustration. A key factor in their decision to vote with Republicans was the Trump administration withholding food stamp assistance from the states as Thanksgiving approached.
That resolution only applies until the end of January, meaning that 2026 could bring another shutdown storm.
This contest of wills largely took place on the Senate side. Speaker Johnson chose to keep the entire House away on recess throughout the high drama. Observers felt his decision may have had to do with delaying a vote on opening the Jeffrey Epstein files to placate President Trump.
Whatever Johnson’s motive, the Republican captain leading the team was unmistakably the tall, thin man striding the marble floors. Thune, a composed Midwesterner and former athletic star, doesn’t waste words. After Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, broke the record for Senate leadership (2007-2025), Thune at 64 was ready to take charge of his first big challenge.
This time, congressional Democrats made the stakes all about Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care premiums. In September, they warned their states and districts that ACA tax credits would expire at the end of the year. They tied this to the generous tax breaks for wealthy individuals and businesses that Republicans passed and Trump signed in the summer.
The result: more than 20 million people saw their health care coverage costs increased dramatically once open enrollment began on November 1. Democratic senator after senator gave speeches in the empty Capitol to claim a crisis loomed on this “kitchen table” issue. They often drew from their constituents’ actual cases.
Thune resisted calls to negotiate changes during the shutdown. He often insisted that the shutdown was unnecessary and avoidable, and that Democrats were beholden to the “far left.” He referred to the ACA as “their Obamacare mess.” He made it personal by saying he didn’t know how Democratic colleagues could look Capitol police and Senate staffers in the eye, knowing they were not being paid until the shutdown ended.
Only one of the four leaders had experienced the eye of a stormy shutdown before: Schumer, during President Trump’s first term. That shutdown lasted 35 days over a border wall Trump unsuccessfully sought to build.
Schumer and Thune gave dueling floor speeches every morning. Jeffries gave press conferences inviting – or daring– Republican leaders to come to the table and negotiate, to no avail.
For his part, rookie Speaker Johnson gave daily press conferences on his side of the Capitol. His lone presence was widely seen as a way to reassure his base that the lights were on in the House. Perhaps he thought he could help bring a resolution, but Thune kept a polite distance. The upper and lower chambers are not known to cross paths even in moments like this.
Meanwhile, partisan tensions were building to a boil, and came to a head on the weekend of November 8-9. Late into the night, Senate Democrats came off their election high (wins in the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races) and realized they could not hold back the centrist group of eight from joining the Republicans to re-open the behemoth government, resuming its central role for citizens. For example, 42 million Americans, including children and seniors, depend on food and nutrition assistance.
Schumer did not join the eight. If he had, there would be even more distress and criticism aimed at him for “caving,” in the lukewarm outcome. In March, he reluctantly joined a group of eight Democrats to avoid a government shutdown in the face of Trump’s massive federal firings. Most of his caucus felt let down then by his sudden about-face and made no secret of it.
Since then, the Senate Democratic leader, 74, has faced rumblings that it’s time for a generational change. Ironically, he quoted a Bob Dylan song at a recent press conference: “Come gather round people…” from “The Times, They are A-Changin’”
As smoke cleared, one backstage drama became clear. Schumer accomplished a strategic feat of persuasion. Knowing the eight would end the shutdown, he persuaded them to wait until after the November 4 elections. He sensed a good day for Democrats, and he was right.
Thune, who is actually young for a Senate leader, emerged from this donnybrook as his own man, leading out of a long wilderness without relying on the White House.
So, who “won” the shutdown?
Thune declared, “Nobody wins a shutdown.”
Both sides took something small away, with a measure of relief that the United States was getting back to work at a normal speed.
But like a Thanksgiving turkey, health care still sat at the table, soon to be carved up one way or the other.
Jamie Stiehm
11/21/2025