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Democrats react as Trump signs end to Shutdown, call it 'extreme cruelty'
Trump's signature on the bill marked an end to the longest shutdown the country has ever faced.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Thu, 13, Nov 2025
- 07:59 EST
- 174
(Top) L-R: Ami Bera, Suhas Subramanyam; (Bottom) L-R: Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal / Courtesy: File Photo
As Trump signed into law the end to a 43-day shutdown of all federal services, Indian origin lawmaker Pramila Jayapal expressed her anger over the Nov. 12 decision. Jayapal, who had voted against the Continuing Resolution (CR), which ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, vowed to continue her fight against healthcare costs and accessibility, the major friction point that led to the shutdown.
The bill cleared Congress after the House of Representatives voted to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.
The GOP-led House passed the bill 222–209, with President Trump’s backing holding Republicans firm despite fierce Democratic pushback, who fumed that a Senate-driven standoff failed to win extended federal health subsidies.
ALSO READ: Trump signs bill to end record US government shutdown
Jayapal noted, "For 43 days, Democrats held the line to demand that Republicans cancel the cuts and lower healthcare costs for Americans, who are seeing their health care premiums double and triple, nursing homes set to close, and massive cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. For 43 days, Republicans showed exactly what extreme cruelty looks like: illegally refusing to fund basic food assistance for 42 million Americans or to do anything to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits."
Expressing her anger over the issue, she added, "Health care is not a Democratic or Republican issue — it affects everyone. And in the richest country in the world, no one should have to choose between food and healthcare, or rent and cancer treatments."
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam also opposed the deal, calling it a bill “full of empty promises.” He said it lacked concrete measures on lowering healthcare costs or protecting federal workers who endured “months of chaos, firings, and uncertainty.” He additionally raised concern about a provision he described as “kickbacks to a handful of Republican Senators,” calling it “corruption, plain and simple.”
Rep. Ami Bera welcomed the end of the shutdown but stressed the urgency of extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to lapse at the end of the year. He said the shutdown had pushed Sacramento County families “to the brink,” from SNAP recipients waiting in long food bank lines to public servants working without pay. Bera said he signed a discharge petition to force a vote on extending the subsidies for three years.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi also voted against the deal, arguing it “fails the basic test of protecting Americans’ health care.” He said families in Illinois were already struggling with rising costs and that the bill did nothing to prevent premiums from climbing even higher.
I voted against the deal last night because it fails the basic test of protecting Americans’ health care.
— Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) November 13, 2025
Too many Illinois families are stretched thin, and it does nothing to stop premiums from rising. Congress must extend ACA tax credits to lower costs for working families. pic.twitter.com/E9Hi58UYe3
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