Gary Palmer votes in favor of ending the government shutdown

November 12, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to end the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States. Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL06) voted in favor of reopening the government.

Following Palmer's vote he released the following statement:

"For over 40 days, the Democrats have held the government hostage in exchange for a radical wish list and campaign support from Marxist billionaires," Re[. Palmer stated. "In doing so, families have gone without paychecks, SNAP and WIC benefits have run out of funding, and travel plans have been disrupted for many Americans by thousands of flights being cancelled or delayed. Finally, eight Senate Democrats came to their senses and joined Republicans in passing this CR and putting this shutdown nightmare behind us."

Rep. Palmer continued, "Not only does this reopen the government, but it also approves three full-year appropriation bills by a line-by-line process. We must bring regular order back to our appropriations process by ending backroom omnibus deals and holiday fiscal cliffs. This is a good start, and I look forward to passing the final nine appropriations bills before the January 30 deadline so we can get Congress back on track."

Passing a C.R. to keep the government funded in normally a bipartisan and almost routine procedure. Congress passed a budget and then they pass thirteen appropriations bills to fund that budget. Most of the time in recent decades a C.R. to keep the government funded is passed in lieu of those appropriations bills to give the Congress more time to work out the details of the appropriations bills with a lot of partisan wrangling going on.

When the appropriations bills were held up on September 30, Senate Democrats led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) refused to pass either the C.R. or the thirteen appropriations bill unless Republicans added a trillion dollar in additional spending to the budget. Republicans have a majority in the Senate but they do not have the 60 vote threshold needed to break a filibuster by Senate Democrats.

This is the longest government shutdown in history. For forty days, federal workers have been furloughed. Essential workers have gone to their jobs daily without getting paid. Researchers, school systems, universities, and other entities have not received their grant funds. Flights have had to be cancelled because air traffic controllers are not coming to work. 41 million Americans Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were being held up by the Democrats' shutdown. Federal employees (many of them still working) were going to food pantries for the poor to put food on the table. The economy was losing billions. This situation finally came to an end on Sunday when eight Democrats broke with their leadership and joined 52 of the 53 Republicans in voting to end the filibuster that was keeping the CR from being debated on the floor. The Senate passed the bipartisan CR late on Monday evening.

Members of the House of Representatives returned to Washington on Wednesday to pass the bipartisan CR to allow government workers to get paid and the government to continue to offer services.

Gary Palmer represents Alabama's Sixth Congressional District – a position he has held since 2014.

To comment or ask a question email brandonmreporter@gmail.com