US Senate passes bill to end government shutdown

The Senate just passed the final version of the government funding package in a 60–40 vote, officially sending the shutdown-ending bill to the House of Representatives for the next, and nearly last, step.

It’s the clearest signal yet that the end is near for the longest shutdown in U.S. history. With the Senate now out of the way, all eyes turn to the House, where a vote is expected Wednesday.

If it clears the lower chamber, the bill heads straight to the White House, where President Trump is expected to sign it into law, sealing the deal and finally reopening the federal government.

The Senate is now holding its final vote on the massive funding package that would officially reopen the federal government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Once this bill clears the Senate, which it’s widely expected to do, it heads straight to the House, where lawmakers are scrambling back to Washington to take it up before the week’s out.

The finish line is finally in sight. Stay with us.

As the Senate moves toward a final vote on the compromise bill to reopen the federal government, Republican senators aren’t holding back, and they’re ready to be done with the whole damn thing.

Senator Markwayne Mullin shrugged off the drama entirely, telling reporters:

“We knew this was going to be the outcome from the beginning.”

Senator Eric Schmitt took it further, calling the entire shutdown episode a “stupid exercise” driven by Democrats trying to posture against Trump

“Thankfully, there were a handful of Democrats that understood,” he said, before shifting focus to the damage already done: “A lot of Americans have been left hurting. So the sooner we can get air traffic controllers paid and back to work, Capitol Police, the whole nine yards, will be a good thing.”

And then there’s Lindsey Graham, already looking past the Senate floor. He’s betting the House will move quickly, especially with President Biden backing the deal.

“If the president’s for it, I think it’ll get through the House. I think it’s a good deal for the country.”

On the back of shutdown breakthrough momentum in Washington, bullion held firm near $4,120 an ounce early Tuesday, after notching a massive 2.9% surge, its biggest one-day jump since May.

The logic is that with the U.S. government set to reopen in mere days, markets are eyeing the return of delayed economic data, which is widely expected to paint a darker economic picture, which is likely to crank up pressure for fresh rate cuts.

Gold loves that scenario. Lower rates mean weaker yield competition, and investors are already acting on it.

Globally, India is pouring gasoline on the fire. The country’s gold ETF inflows have gone vertical, racking up a whopping $2.9 billion in the first 10 months of 2025, equivalent to 26 tonnes of physical gold and nearly equal to the total inflows from 2020 through 2024 combined.

October alone brought in $850 million, hot on the heels of September’s record $942 million. Total assets under management in Indian gold ETFs now sit at an all-time high of $11 billion, holding 83.5 tonnes of gold.

In the FX world, the euro’s holding steady at $1.1558, while sterling edges higher to $1.3177. The Australian dollar popped 0.7% to $0.6536, and the yen slid to 154.11 per dollar, with markets watching closely for a break of 154.48, which would be its weakest point in nine months.

Senator Rand Paul just took a hard L on the Senate floor.

The Kentucky Republican tried to yank a clause from the shutdown bill that he warned would “shut down the hemp industry across the United States.”

Paul argued the language steamrolls state-level rules, undermines consumer choices, and deals a brutal blow to hemp farmers already hanging by a thread.

But in a 76–24 vote, the Senate slammed the brakes on Paul’s amendment. And the plot twist? The kill shot came from Mitch McConnell, also of Kentucky, who moved to table Paul’s proposal.

McConnell defended the provision, saying it closes a dangerous loophole in the 2018 farm bill that’s allowed companies to extract legal THC from hemp, turn it into “intoxicating substances,” and sell it to kids.

Stock futures held steady Monday night, with no expected major overnight moves. Dow futures were up just 23 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures nudged less than 0.1%. But the earlier rally was undeniable.

Risk-on sentiment was loudest in AI stocks, with Nvidia rocketing up 5.8% and reclaiming its throne as the single biggest driver of S&P 500 gains for the day.

The shutdown optimism mixed perfectly with a rebound in tech, as traders swept back into names that had been hammered during last week’s AI skepticism.

Alphabet added 4%, and Microsoft rose 1.9%, breaking its brutal eight-day losing streak.

Meanwhile, Nvidia’s size is now borderline surreal. The most valuable company on earth holds 8.5% of the entire S&P 500, outranking six sectors, and boasting a $5.1 trillion valuation that now eclipses the combined market caps of Italy, Spain, the UAE, and the Netherlands.

Two Democratic gambles just got crushed on the Senate floor.

Tammy Baldwin’s push to lock in a vote on extending health care tax credits, a last-ditch attemp to keep Affordable Care Act subsidies alive for another year, was smacked down in a 47-53 party-line vote.

Her procedural trick was to try to table Chuck Schumer’s amendment that blocks all further amendments to the shutdown bill. It didn’t fly. And with that, her shot at forcing the tax credits into the conversation went down with it.

Those tax credits are scheduled to expire at year’s end, and if Congress doesn’t act soon, premiums for Americans who rely on the ACA marketplace could surge within weeks. Baldwin’s move was the progressive wing’s biggest bet to prevent that, and it just blew up.

Not long after, Senator Jeff Merkley stepped into the ring with his own failed attempt to reassert congressional control over federal spending.

He tried to force a vote on rescinding the Trump-era practice of canceling congressionally-approved funds, arguing it was a direct attack on the Constitution’s power-of-the-purse clause.

“That’s not a democracy,” Merkley said, slamming the practice as presidential overreach. But his motion? Same fate. Same vote count. Same party lines. Dead in the water.