The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a deal to end the longest government shutdown, resolving a weeks-long impasse that disrupted food aid, halted pay for federal workers, and affected air travel.
The 60–40 vote passed with backing from nearly all Republicans and eight Democrats, who failed in their effort to link government funding to soon-expiring health subsidies.
While the agreement sets up a December vote on those subsidies, which benefit 24 million Americans, it does not guarantee they will continue.
The deal would restore funding for federal agencies that lawmakers allowed to expire on 1 October and would stall President Donald Trump's campaign to downsize the federal workforce, preventing any layoffs until 30 January.
It next heads to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as Wednesday and send it on to Trump to sign into law.
Trump has called the deal to reopen the government "very good."
The deal would extend funding through 30 January, leaving the federal government for now on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion a year to its $38 trillion in debt.
"We wish we could do more," said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat.
"The government shutting down seemed to be an opportunity to lead us to better policy. It didn't work."
The deal does not appear to include any specific guardrails to prevent Trump from enacting further spending cuts.
However, the deal would fund the SNAP food-subsidy program through to 30 September next year, heading off any possible disruptions if Congress were to shut down the government again during that time.
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President Javier Milei has introduced a new labour reform proposal to Argentina’s Congress, aiming to address what his administration describes as a "rigid structure" that has hindered job creation in the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the bill to release the files from the Justice Department investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday.
Peru's Congress voted unanimously on Friday to remove President Dina Boluarte from office in a late-night session held hours after political blocs from across the spectrum called for her ouster.
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
There are fears of an oil spill after a drone strike hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai on Tuesday, while U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran reportedly killed at least two people. A loud explosion was heard in Beirut in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, as oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck in Indonesia's Northern Molucca Sea on Thursday, killing one person, damaging some buildings and triggering tsunami waves, authorities and witnesses said.
President Donald Trump staunchly defended his handling of the month-old U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in a prime-time address on Wednesday, saying the U.S. military was nearing completion of its mission while also reinforcing his threats to bomb the Islamic Republic back to the Stone Age.
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France and South Korea have agreed to strengthen defence ties and energy security cooperation following a two-day visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Seoul.
In a highly unusual move highlighting shifting narcotics diplomacy, the U.S. has handed over a Chinese fugitive accused of serious drug crimes to authorities in Beijing.
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