House Votes to Reopen Government as Congress Suddenly Ramps Up Crypto Work

A majority of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a funding bill to reopen the government late Wednesday after a record-breaking 42-day shutdown, sending the continuing resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

The government looked set to remain shut down for the foreseeable future before a group of Senate Democrats and the majority of Senate Republicans voted in favor of the roughly 3-month funding measure late Sunday, giving up their key demands to end the shutdown but forcing a (failed) vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies. The lengthy shutdown slowed the U.S. government’s progress on crypto, but legislators have signaled efforts to continue working on legislation affecting crypto.

The final vote was 222-209, with 216 Republicans and six Democrats voting in favor of the funding measure, which will last through the end of January 2026. The White House announced that Trump would sign the measure at 9:45 p.m. ET.

Just this week, the Senate Agriculture Committee published an initial draft bill for their part of key market structure legislation that would define the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s role in overseeing crypto spot markets, as well as scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mike Selig, Trump’s nominee to head that agency.

The restart also lets federal regulators resume their work around crypto and other areas, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and CFTC, both of which saw staff furloughed during the shutdown. While a group of companies filing to list and trade shares of new exchange-traded funds began using a procedural workaround to launch projects without needing an explicit SEC approval, the restart will speed the way for approvals of other public listings and similar products.

Other federal agencies like the IRS or Office of the Comptroller of the Currency can similarly resume ongoing efforts to conduct rulemaking and analyze feedback to those proposals, such as current public responses to rulemaking tied to the GENIUS Act.

Read more: U.S. Government Shutdown Stretches to Record 36 Days, Continues Risk of Derailing Crypto Bill