The House on Wednesday night voted to pass legislation to reopen the federal government and end an acrimonious 43-day shutdown, the longest in American history.

The House of Representatives has approved a bill that funds the government through Jan. 30, bringing a close to the longest government shutdown in history, one that saw millions of Americans affected and ended with little political gain.

The bill passed Wednesday night despite Republicans` narrow margin in the House. While there was near-unified opposition from Democrats, six Democrats joined their Republican colleagues to get the bill over the finish line 43 days after the shutdown began. Two Republicans voted no, the final vote was 222 to 209.

President Trump is expected to sign the bill on Wednesday night, paving the way for many federal workers to return to work on Thursday.

In addition to extending last year`s spending levels through the end of January for most of the government, the bill provides funding for some agencies through the end of next September, including payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program, which provides food aid to nearly 1 in 8 Americans, has been mired in a court battle because of the shutdown.

The bill includes a measure to reverse layoffs the Trump administration imposed during the shutdown, provides backpay for federal employees, and institutes protections against further layoffs.

But the central issue underlying the entire shutdown - extensions on enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year - is not addressed in the bill.

Instead, as part of the deal reached with a bipartisan contingent of senators, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to hold a vote in mid-December on Democrat-drafted legislation aimed at extending those subsidies.

That doesn`t sit well with many Senate Democrats, who remain wary of the pledge.

"A handshake deal with my Republican colleagues to reopen the government and no guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough," said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., who voted against the measure.

Even if a December bill addressing the expiring subsidies passes the Senate, it would need to go to the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has not made a guarantee to bring such a bill to the floor for a vote.

"We have federal workers across the country that have been missing paychecks. We have [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] recipients, millions of them across the country, whose access to food security was imperiled, and we have to figure out what that was for," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told reporters.

Ocasio-Cortez noted that the Trump administration had appealed court orders to pay November`s SNAP benefits all the way to the Supreme Court - an action regarded as a political blunder by some analysts. Senate Democrats said they weren`t willing to let food aid recipients go hungry, but Ocasio-Cortez said Trump`s refusal to pay the food benefits made it even more ridiculous that Senate Democrats caved.

"We cannot enable this kind of cruelty with our cowardice," she said.