For weeks AGC has been providing updates on the longest government shutdown in history and it has finally come to an end. The House and Senate voted this week to reopen the government after a compromise was reached between a group of bipartisan senators. Here is what the deal includes:
- Re-opens the government through January 30th through a stopgap funding bill;
- Includes a package of three spending bills to fund MilCon-VA, Agriculture, and the Legislative branch for FY2026; and
- Reverses firings of federal workers during the government shutdown and bars future layoffs through January 30th.
The deal was ultimately reached because eight Senate Democrats broke ranks and voted with Republicans. In addition to concessions in the actual spending deal, these Democrats secured a commitment from U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to hold a vote on extending the expiring Obamacare subsidies.
This is good news for construction. The longer this government shutdown lasted, the more projects that could face delays that required approvals or interactions with agencies, such as environmental review and permitting decisions. Because the shutdown lasted so long, contractors could still see residual project delays as a result. As a reminder, AGC had been calling on Congress to pass a continuing resolution to end this shutdown from the beginning.
For additional information, please contact Alex Etchen.