Photo by Maisa_nyc via Flickr Government

From the Editors: What was the point of all this? The Editors November 14, 2025 November 13, 2025

A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size.

After more than a month of stubbornness and invective in Washington, some sanity reigns — for now. Senate Democrats finally ended their filibuster and allowed the government to reopen as soon as the House concurs in their changes to the bill.

So what was it all for? What did Democrats get out of the longest federal shutdown in American history? On paper, it looks like not a whole lot. A few tweaks to the funding, and a promise of another vote later. For this, federal workers went without pay for more than 42 days — even those required to still show up for work — a

See Full Page