WASHINGTON, November 13, 2025: Late last night, Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar (D-TX) along with five other Democrats joined the Republicans at the House to end the longest federal government shutdown in America’s history. Joining Cuellar were Democrats Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Adam Gray (D-CA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).
Two Republicans, Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Greg Steube (R-FL) voted against ending the federal shutdown.
The final vote tally was 222 to 209 in favor of ending the shutdown.
Cuellar said that he voted to end the shutdown “so we can get critical programs back to work.”
The Texas Democrat, and his wife Imelda Rios Cuellar, were indicted on April 30, 2024 for allegedly accepting “$598,000 in bribes” from two foreign companies – an oil company and a bank based in Mexico City.
Cuellar has denied the charges. The case remains pending in court.
In May the Texas Democratic Party canceled a resolution to condemn Cuellar after the indictment. The resolution alleged that Cuellar was voting against the interests of the Democratic Party. The proposed resolution called for banning Cuellar from party functions and cutting off party resources to him.
In a statement after the resolution was canceled, Cuellar said that the “misguided resolution” was to “divide Democrats rather than unite them.”
Yesterday, Cuellar was the lone Texas Democrat to vote with the Republicans to end the shutdown.
With the shutdown now over, SNAP benefits have been restored. No news yet from the Texas Health and Human Services as to how soon the full benefits will become available. As we reported, partial benefits are now arriving to beneficiaries.
As expected, most federal programs have been funded until January 30, 2026. A few, like Veterans Affairs are funded for their full fiscal year. Federal food subsidies are funded through September of next year.
The key demand to end the federal shutdown the Democrats were looking for, extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring at the end of the year, were not part of the legislation approved last night.
Federal workers on furlough have been told to report back to work as early as today. The bill signed last night ending the federal shutdown provides backpay to both furloughed and federal workers who worked without a paycheck through the shutdown.
Yesterday, congresswoman Veronica Escobar issued the following statement after her vote against reopening the government.
“It should now be abundantly clear to everyone in our country that Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans do not care that Americans are struggling – that grocery bills, utility bills and health insurance costs are unacceptably high. In fact, they’ve shown that they will go to any lengths to strip hardworking Americans of the help they need to survive; even using the full might of the Department of Justice to ensure hungry families, including over 67,000 households in El Paso, don’t have the means to put food on the table.”
Escobar added, “For 42 days, Trump and Republicans have refused to meet with us to negotiate, and today, I will vote against a plan that does nothing to prevent healthcare premiums from skyrocketing at a time when Americans are in crisis and the cost of living is already too expensive.”
She concluded with “Democrats refuse to turn a blind eye to Americans’ hardship, and we will continue to fight for you.”
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