Senate Republicans and Democrats have finalized a bipartisan deal to end the 42-day government shutdown, with a key provision explicitly prohibiting any federal funds under the continuing resolution from being used to subsidize abortion coverage through Obamacare exchanges.
The agreement, reached late Sunday, extends fiscal year 2025 spending at current levels through March 14, 2026, while allocating $170 billion in new emergency funding for border security, military readiness, and disaster relief. Pro-life advocates hailed the abortion funding ban as a major victory, noting it reinstates Hyde Amendment-style protections that had lapsed during the funding impasse.
The abortion restriction language, inserted at the insistence of Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz, bars the Department of Health and Human Services from using appropriated funds to reimburse insurers for elective abortions under the Affordable Care Act. This marks the first time since 2017 that such a blanket prohibition has been attached to a major appropriations measure.
In exchange, Democrats secured $40 billion for FEMA disaster response, $25 billion for child care subsidies, and a commitment to hold separate votes on infrastructure spending in early 2026. The compromise averted a deeper fiscal crisis while satisfying core demands on both sides.