People cross Pennsylvania Avenue near the US Capitol in Washington, DC, at dawn on October 1, 2025. Al Drago/Getty Images

With Congress now tied for its longest-ever shutdown, a small group of fed-up lawmakers in Washington are furiously trying to end the standoff as soon as this week.

Those members insist there’s real momentum this time. Yet it’s not yet clear whether this potential off-ramp will deliver Democrats any real win on their biggest demand of the shutdown: health care.

“I do believe that we are finally making progress. It’s too soon to declare that this nightmare of a shutdown is over, but I’m very cautiously hopeful that it will be resolved by the end of this week,” Sen. Susan Collins, the Senate’s top GOP spending leader, told CNN. The Maine Republican has been involved

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