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Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

The bill advanced by a vote of 60-40.

Last Updated: November 9, 2025, 11:48 PM EST

President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a bit more insight into his proposal that Obamacare subsidies should go directly to Americans' Health Savings Accounts to pay for health care rather than sending funds to insurance companies through the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted Sunday night on a test vote that would fund the government through Jan. 31 and end the 40-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Enough Democrats voted to pass the bill.

And the Department of Agriculture in a late Saturday night memo ordered states to reverse any steps they've taken to issue SNAP benefits and threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly.

Nov 09, 2025, 12:24 PM EST

Trump says health care payments would go to Health Savings Accounts

Trump offered a bit more insight into his proposal that direct subsidies should go directly to the American people to pay for health care rather than having funds sent to insurance companies through the ACA.

Trump said Republicans should give money to Americans through their Health Savings Account -- special savings accounts which saw expanded access through Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed over the summer.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Expanded access to people who have certain ACA health plans, specifically Bronze and Catastrophic tier plans, was provided through the OBBB.

“Republicans should give money DIRECTLY to your personal HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS that I expanded in our GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump said on his social media platform on Sunday morning.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Nov 09, 2025, 11:46 AM EST

White House tells states to ‘undo’ any steps taken to issue SNAP benefits

The Trump administration, in a late-night memo published on Saturday, demanded that any states working to provide full food stamp benefits via SNAP stop any steps they were taking to do so.

The Department of Agriculture threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly with their new orders.

“States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” Patrick Penn, the Deputy Secretary of Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services for USDA, wrote in the memo.

People pick up food at a pop-up food distribution organized by the Alameda County Community Food Bank in cooperation with Alameda County Social Services Agency in Oakland, Calif., November 6, 2025.
John G Mabanglo/EPA/Shutterstock

“Failure to comply with this memorandum may result in USDA taking various actions, including cancellation of the Federal share of State administrative costs and holding States liable for any overissuances that result from the noncompliance,” he added.

The new USDA directive comes as the U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture an administrative stay to pause SNAP benefits while the legal battles over them continue to play out.

States including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been moving swiftly to release SNAP benefits to residents.

-ABC News' Steven Portnoy and Isabella Murray

Nov 09, 2025, 10:27 AM EST

Trump promises $2,000 per person tariff dividend

Trump is claiming via his social media platform that a “dividend of at least $2000 a person” will be paid to all Americans except for “high-income people,” saying the country is now wealthy as a result of his tariff policies.

“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER,” the president wrote.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” he added.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Nov 09, 2025, 8:55 AM EST

Senate to convene in rare Sunday session but no votes scheduled

The Senate is scheduled to be in for a rare Sunday session as it continues to attempt to chart a path out of the 40-day government shutdown.

The Senate is expected to convene at 1:30 p.m. There are currently no votes scheduled. It’s not yet clear whether any will be added to the schedule today.

Majority Leader John Thune said Saturday that the Senate will vote at some point on advancing a short-term funding bill with three of the 12 full-year funding bills attached to it. If passed, the whole government would open until a yet-to-be-determined date — likely sometime in January — and certain government programs, like SNAP and Veterans Affairs, would be funded for the full fiscal year.

American flags flutter in front of the U.S. Capitol more than a month into the continuing U.S. government shutdown in Washington, November 7, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters

Text of those three bills is still not available, so it’s not clear if that the Senate would consider holding a vote on this package as of Sunday morning, even if the text is eventually released. It’s also not clear that Democrats would accept this offer.

-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin

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