The longest government shutdown in modern U.S. history, which lasted 43 days, ended on Nov. 13. It cut off 42 million people from full food stamp benefits and forced over 700,000 federal workers to work without pay and delayed or canceled thousands of flights.

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The government shutdown started after Congress could not pass a spending plan for the next fiscal year. After 14 failed Senate votes to end the shutdown, seven Democrats and one independent senator crossed party lines to pass a Republican-proposed funding package. It extends funding to most federal agencies until Jan. 30, but it lacks a key component Democrats fought for during the shutdown: extensions on health care subsidies, which, if not extended, would raise healthcare costs for tens of millions of Americans.​