Now that the federal shutdown is over, here’s what to know about SNAP, air travel and more

The longest federal government shutdown in history is over, but there will be some delays before services are fully restored.
For 43 days, the federal government was shut down, with some 670,000 federal workers furloughed and another 730,000 working without pay according to reports. Late Wednesday, President Trump signed a bill that would fund the federal government at current levels through late January — but fingers continue to point outward from both sides, showing that reopening the federal government has done little to alleviate partisan tensions.
“Today we’re sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” Trump said when he signed the funding bill passed by the House earlier that evening after the Senate passed it on Monday. He was referring to Democratic Party demands that something be done to continue health care subsidies for millions of Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year.
That unmet demand was top of mind for Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, who said at a press conference following the Senate passage of the bill that Trump had made the “unprecedented decision to not fund SNAP benefits during a federal shutdown.”
“My message to every SNAP recipient out there is this: Forget the noise that you’re hearing from Donald Trump,” Healey said Monday, “go out and buy the food you need to feed your family.
“The president may have made a choice to starve Americans, but I’m not gonna let that happen here in Massachusetts,” she continued.
As politicians argue, what does refunding the federal government mean for everyday people? Here’s what you need to know about SNAP benefits, air travel, military members, federal worker backpay, and other issues.
SNAP benefits
Among the most high-profile impacts of the shutdown was on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves around 42 million people — about 1 in 8 Americans — in lower-income households. A series of court rulings and shifting policies from the Trump administration led to a patchwork distribution of November benefits. While some states had already issued full benefits, about two-thirds of states had issued only partial benefits or none at all.
Massachusetts funded SNAP through October, but hit a snag when November rolled around. That hurdle is now cleared, with the state Department of Transitional Assistance has since reported that “SNAP households who missed payments last week now have full, active balances on their EBT cards that are immediately available for them to use.”
Flight disruptions
The shutdown caused significant disruptions in aviation, with more and more unpaid air traffic controllers missing work as they dealt with the financial pressures and some of them picked up side jobs. Those staff shortages, combined with some troubling safety data, prompted the government to order airlines to cut some of their flights over the past week to relieve pressure on the system.
Those cuts aren’t increasing right now, but the Federal Aviation Administration won’t lift the order until safety metrics improve. Airlines say they expect to resume normal operations quickly after that. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that controllers and other FAA employees should receive 70% of their back pay within 24-48 hours of the end of the shutdown, with the rest to come.
The military
Members of the U.S. military dealt with weeks of anxiety over whether they would get paid as they continued working. The Trump administration ultimately found ways to pay troops for the two pay periods during the closure. But the process was fraught; the administration located the money just days before each paycheck. Pay arrived days later than usual for many service members with early direct deposit, disrupting their ability to pay bills and forcing some to pay late fees or rack up debt.
Civilians in the Defense Department began returning Thursday. According to a memo provided to The Associated Press, the Air Force said civilians could take a day of administrative leave or work remotely for up to a week. Several military officials said the impacts on active-duty troops have been minimal.
Federal workers
About 1.25 million federal workers haven’t been paid since Oct. 1, missing about $16 billion in wages, according to official estimates. The workers were either furloughed or worked without pay in agencies across the federal government. Many struggled to make ends meet during that time, and the regional economy around Washington, D.C., took a hit.
The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the civil service, posted on X that federal workers were expected to be back Thursday, saying that “employees are expected to begin the workday on time. Normal operating procedures are in effect.” The pay owed to the workers will come in by Nov. 19. The money will go out in four separate tranches, depending on the agency, according to a senior administration official.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.