President Donald Trump signed the funding bill on Nov. 12 to end the 43-day-long federal government shutdown. After the Senate introduced and passed the bill on Monday, the House of Representatives approved the bill on Wednesday evening with a 222-209 vote. President Donald Trump signed the bill later that evening, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The new funding measure allows for the rehiring of fired employees and guarantees a Senate vote in December regarding the continuation of tax credits. With the government reopening, Trinity students receiving government aid may receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
The government shutdown began when the Senate denied a bill for the 2026 fiscal year.
John Hermann, associate professor of political science, explained that the government will likely seek to restore these benefits as soon as possible. However, Hermann said he is concerned about how quickly the government can restore these benefits, given the unprecedented firings of government employees during this time.
“They [Democrats] were worried about Medicaid, and Obamacare and basically the cut of a trillion dollars. They want to make sure that it’s alive. What the Republicans said is, ‘We will negotiate with you regarding health care, but you have to end the shutdown before we negotiate,’” Hermann said. The future of Medicaid and Obamacare is still up in the air, with future negotiations to occur once the shutdown ends.
One of the conditions that the Democrats negotiated was that all government workers laid off during the shutdown be brought back.
“You’re dealing with an unprecedented length of a shutdown, right? But you’re also dealing with an administration — a presidential administration — that has cut thousands and thousands of jobs. It may be more efficient, but you don’t have as many people to do the jobs that normally used to be done,” Hermann said.
The lengthy government shutdown delayed many student benefits, including some Veterans Affairs and SNAP benefits. With the shutdown coming to a close, many of these benefits may be reinstituted, though SNAP may lose nearly half its funding.
