Topline
The government shutdown is expected to end as soon as Wednesday with the House poised to approve legislation that passed the Senate to resume funding—but it could take weeks for operations to resume normally after the record-long shutdown.
The U.S. Capitol is shown the morning after the Senate passed legislation to reopen the federal government on November 11, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Flights: It could take airlines days or weeks to rebuild their flight schedules and stabilize staffing issues caused by air traffic controller absences, experts told USA Today and CNN, noting Thanksgiving travel plans could be affected.
The shutdown has also resulted in more permanent employee losses as more air traffic controllers retired, in addition to those who stopped showing up for work because they were working without pay—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said 15 to 20 per day retired during the shutdown, compared to about four on a typical day.
Economic data: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will likely release the September jobs report shortly after the shutdown ends, since it was originally scheduled for release on Oct. 3, two days after the government shut down, economists told the Wall Street Journal.
It’s unclear how long October reports, including the producer-price index and the unemployment rate, will take since some of the information comes through surveys the BLS hasn’t been conducting during the shutdown, while other information submitted routinely by companies has yet to be processed as the entire agency has been furloughed.
SNAP payments: The Trump administration has sought to withhold full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments for November amid the shutdown, and it’s unclear how quickly food stamps could be distributed once President Donald Trump signs the legislation to resume government funding.
Some states have distributed partial payments, some with Democratic governors issued full payments before they were paused Friday by the Supreme Court, and others have yet to distribute any SNAP money.
Museums: While most national parks stayed open during the shutdown, Smithsonian museums, the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Washington Monument and the National Zoo closed. The National Zoo and Smithsonian museums reopened four days after the end of the 2019 shutdown, which was the most recent government shutdown before the ongoing one and previously held the record for longest in history.
Paying furloughed workers: Legislation passed by the Senate ensures federal workers they’ll receive back pay once the government reopens, and the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act requires agencies to issue retroactive paychecks “at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”
After the 35-day shutdown in 2019, it took more than two months for air traffic controllers to receive their full back pay, National Air Traffic Controllers Association president Nick Daniels told the Associated Press.
Tangent
Broad strain on the economy is expected to ease fairly quickly after the shutdown ends, White House advisers have said, though impacts are worse than initially expected because the shutdown has “gone on for so long,” National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Friday. He said GDP growth in the fourth quarter is expected to be half the 3% initially estimated.