After 43 difficult days, the longest shutdown of federal government in American history has ended. The lights are back on in Washington, D.C., and millions of Americans who were held hostage by political brinkmanship can finally exhale.
But let’s be clear: This was not a mere budget dispute. It was a manufactured crisis — a reckless act that inflicted real harm on families, workers and the very institutions that safeguard our democracy.
The shutdown ended late Wednesday night when President Donald Trump signed a stopgap funding bill that keeps the government running through Jan. 30. It’s only a temporary reprieve. That means the very forces that drove the country into this chaos already are at work plotting the next showdown.
For six weeks, America was forced to live in a state of emergency. Two million civilian federal employees —disproportionately women and people of color — missed desperately needed paychecks. Many were forced to choose between food and rent because of partisan games. Military families, who sacrifice daily to defend our freedom, faced delayed pay and reduced support. Small businesses, especially those owned by women and minorities, were cut off from loans and contracts when the Small Business Administration went dark.
And let’s not forget the 42 million Americans who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to put food on the table. For them, this wasn’t an inconvenience — it was a humanitarian crisis. SNAP injects billions into local economies every month, supporting jobs and lifting millions out of poverty. Cutting off that lifeline didn’t just hurt families; it sabotaged economic stability in communities across the country.
The damage rippled far beyond kitchen tables. Air travel was disrupted as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents worked without pay. Federal research at the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ground to a halt, jeopardizing public health. Housing assistance through the Department of Housing and Urban Development was delayed, leaving vulnerable families in limbo. Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics was forced to postpone its jobs report, depriving policymakers of critical data.
This is what happens when governance is replaced by gamesmanship. When ideology trumps responsibility. When elected officials treat the American people as collateral damage in their quest for power.
The bill that ended the shutdown includes some important protections: back pay for federal workers, restored funding for food assistance programs and a reversal of the Trump administration’s illegal firings of federal employees.
But it also punts on a critical issue — health care. Millions of Americans are staring down skyrocketing premiums as enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expire at year’s end. Congress promised a vote on this by mid-December, but promises don’t pay the bills or keep families healthy.
So while the government is open today, the fight for justice and stability is far from over.
Let’s be honest about what the shutdown really was: a direct attack on working families and on the principle of shared prosperity. It was an assault on the idea that government exists to serve the people — not to serve the ambitions of a few. And it was a stark reminder that democracy is fragile and requires constant vigilance.
We cannot afford to normalize this behavior. We cannot shrug it off as “just politics.” Politics, at its best, is about solving problems and improving lives. What we witnessed was the opposite: a deliberate choice to deepen hardship and sow chaos.
The National Urban League has said from the start these are not competing priorities — they are moral imperatives. Reopen the government. Protect access to health care. Ensure federal funding reaches the communities that need it most. These are the basics of a functioning democracy.
As we move forward, let’s demand accountability. Let’s insist that lawmakers put people over partisanship. And let’s remember our power as citizens is not passive — it’s active. It’s in our voices, our votes and our vigilance.
The shutdown may be over, but the struggle for justice continues. And the Urban League will not back down. We will fight to defend Americans and democracy itself — because that is the charge of our time.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002. He writes a twice-monthly column for the Sun-Times.