As members of Congress vote on this bill, let's take a look at what is and is not inside it.

What's in the deal?

The deal includes a reversal of all government employee layoffs that occurred during the shutdown, guarantees federal workers will receive backpay, and extends the stopgap measure to fund the government through January.

What's not in the deal?

But the deal does not explicitly include what most Democrats wanted in this shutdown fight: a guaranteed extension of health insurance subsidies. Instead of including the extension in the continuing resolution bill itself, it makes way for another vote on the tax credits at the end of the second week in December.

Members of the US House of Representatives are now casting their final votes on the bill to end the government shutdown.

The bill needs 215 yes votes in order to pass.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The highest ranking member of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, is now at the microphone.

He blames Democrats for voting to shut down the government 14 times, and he says his Republican colleagues put forward a clean bill.

"On the Republican side we operated in good faith," he said. "We need to get this government open as soon as possible."

Image source, Reuters

As we told you just a little bit ago, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is allowed to speak on the floor for as long as he wants, in a parliamentary procedure known as the "magic minute".

In fact, this period of time can last much longer than a minute, if the congressional leader wants it to.

Jeffries blames Republicans for stoking a "healthcare crisis" by not renewing existing healthcare tax credits to lower costs of medical care.

"These extremists are not like us they have zero interest in making life better for American people," he says.

Once he has finished speaking, final voting will begin.

President Donald Trump plans to sign the bill ending the shutdown tonight at 21:45 local time, according to a message shared by White House accounts.

The only other thing on his schedule tonight is a private dinner with business leaders that is underway now.

First, though, the House has to vote to pass the bill.

Here's a quick reminder of how we got here:

The US federal government shutdown started on 1 October because Republicans and Democrats could not agree to pass a bill funding government services past that date, when the previous federal budget expired.

In the US, Congress must approve a spending plan for the president to sign into law.

Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but in the Senate they were short of the 60 votes needed to pass the spending bill.

That gave Democrats leverage to try to push some of their priorities, mainly funding for healthcare. Democrats were seeking to reverse cuts Trump made this year to Medicaid, a government healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income people.

Democrats were also trying to extend subsidies from the Affordable Care Act that lower the monthly cost of health care for millions of Americans.

Republicans' position was that a healthcare debate could happen after a temporary spending plan was agreed to, and that it was necessary to avoid a shutdown to keep government programmes running during a healthcare debate.

The new deal reached by several Democratic senators and Republicans includes an agreement for a vote in December on extending healthcare subsidies that are due to expire this year.

We're now listening to congressmembers debate ahead of the final vote on reopening the government.

The House voted just now on the rules of the debate - determining the discussions will last an hour. Democrats and Republicans will each get 30 minutes to make their points before moving on to the key decision on the bill's passage.

You can click Watch Live above to stream the proceedings and follow along here for the key lines.

Image source, Getty Images

The US government shutdown has had far-reaching impacts - from chaos and delays at airports to hundreds of thousands of federal employees working without pay to the suspension of food assistance programs for lower-income households.

So what happens if, after being closed for nearly a month and a half, the government reopens after tonight's vote?

Here are a few things the bill guarantees:

• All federal agencies will resume operation and the federal government will be funded until 30 January
• Shutdown-related layoffs of federal workers will be reversed, and further cuts will be prevented through the end of January
• There will be back-pay for workers that were furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown, including air-traffic controllers whose shortage during the shutdown prompted government-imposed flight cuts and travel tangles around the country
• Full restoration of Snap food benefits for millions of lower income Americans
• The bill also will force a December Senate vote on extending healthcare tax credits, which make health insurance premiums cheaper for many Americans

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

We just saw Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is a big supporter of the president, run through a tunnel of reporters to the House floor on her way to vote.

She's been the centre of one of today's other big news stories: the Epstein file dump.

Reports today have suggested the White House had been trying to get Boebert to remove her name from a discharge petition she had signed to get DoJ to release the Epstein files they have.

The deadline for Boebert to remove her name has passed, and her name stands on the petition - despite the White House's apparent objection.

A few of us reporters have continued to follow Boebert through the halls and ask about the meeting.

"Adults are allowed to have conversations," she says. "I asked to have more information and they gave me more information."

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

We've just got the final tally from the procedural vote.

There were four absences. Three Republicans and one Democrat.

Ordinarily, the margin would be 219-214 in favour of Republicans.

Tonight for the final vote, it will be 216 Republicans and 213 casting ballots.

If you're doing the maths on your fingers, that's 429 total representatives present tonight - or 215 votes required to pass the resolution.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

A handful of US media outlets are reporting that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is planning to use a parliamentary tool called the "magic minute" this evening.

The "magic minute" - or leadership minute - is a House rule that allows party leaders to speak on the floor as long as they'd like to.

Other members of Congress have strict time limits on how long they can speak.

Past members of leadership have used the mechanism to speak for hours. We'll have to wait to see what Jeffries does tonight

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, C-SPAN

If you’re watching the stream above right now you’ll see that members of Congress are currently voting.

They’re voting on the rule to allow the bill to come to the floor.

We’ve told you about some of the travel delays members have faced to get here.

Well, now we’ll know for sure what attendance at tonight’s vote will look like.

Image source, C-SPAN

US Representative and New Jersey's Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill just took the floor for the first time since winning the governor's race in her state last week. The Democrat says it will be her last speech in the chamber before submitting her resignation next week.

The outgoing lawmaker tells the chamber that she opposes tonight's vote on the continuing resolution because it "does nothing to protect over 450,000 New Jerseyans who will see their healthcare premium skyrocket".

Sherrill tells them that she ran on a promise "to take on anyone and stop at nothing to lower cost and build opportunity for everyone".

In her parting words, she issues a warning to her colleagues and takes aim at the Trump administration.

"Do not let this body become a ceremonial red stamp from an administration that takes food away from children, that rips healthcare away from people and takes food away from children. To the country, stand strong. As we say in the Navy, don't give up the ship."

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Milling around with dozens of other reporters in one of the many tiled hallways in the US Capitol, I bump into US Representative Adelita Grijalva as she takes photos with her family just off the House floor.

The Arizona Democrat was sworn in earlier today when representatives returned to Capitol Hill for today's session.

For every other of the more than 400 lawmakers voting tonight, this is their first official act back in Washington after the shutdown. But for Grijalva, it's also her first day at a brand-new job.

Image source, Getty Images

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

There are currently 433 members of Congress. We'll be watching tonight as they all come to floor and cast their votes on whether or not to fund the US government, thereby ending the shutdown.

There is currently a 219-214 split in favour of Republicans, with two seats currently vacant.

That means the Republicans - who are expected to largely back the measure to re-open - can only afford to lose two votes in tonight's vote for it still to pass, if Democrats all vote against it.

Once we see the 217 number of votes in favour, we'll know the House has secured enough votes to push this measure over the edge.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

Sierra Bird is one of more than 42 million Americans who rely Snap, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to feed their families.

Snap beneficiaries use re-loadable debit cards to buy essential grocery items. Although states administer the programmes themselves, much of its funding comes from the federal government.

Bird is a single mother of four living in Florida, desperate for the end of the government shutdown as she still hasn't gotten her Snap benefits for the month.

Instead, she's tiding her family over with food she's stockpiled.

Bird calls herself "one of the lucky ones". Her children go to schools that provide free breakfast and lunch.

"I only have to worry about dinners and weekends," she's told me.

Despite the movement on Capitol Hill to re-open the government, she's not optimistic about her benefits.

"I'm totally expecting it to last a bit longer," she says of the lack of help with food.

Even if the shutdown ends tonight - by the House approving the measure and the president signing it - it will take time for Americans to get caught up on services they missed during the lapse.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

The chaos of Capitol Hill has returned in some form.

The House is back in session for the first time in weeks and you can tell.

The hallways are bustling with staffers and dozens of reporters running from hallway to hallway.

Members of Congress are going from the floor - where many are debating the merits of the government spending legislation they’ll vote on in a few hours - to do TV hits.

All of this debate, and running, tees up the vote many Americans have been long-awaiting - to reopen the government.

Stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest.

Democrat Adelita Grijalva's first act as a new congresswoman was to sign a petition to force a vote on the Epstein files.

The paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has been back in the news today after House Democrats released emails from his estate that mention President Donald Trump.

Seconds after she was officially sworn in and addressed the House, Grijalva became the 218th signatory on the petition - pushing it over the threshold needed to move forward.

"Justice cannot wait another day," she said.

We've been covering the developments on the Epstein files on our other livepage. You can follow along here.

Image source, Reuters

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from New York

When it comes to raw numbers, Republicans in the House of Representatives face less of an uphill battle than those in the Senate did to move the funding package forward.

The Senate’s requirement of a super-majority of 60 votes meant some Democrats had to change their positions and vote alongside Republicans for the bill to advance. But that’s not the case here.

In the House, only a simple majority is required to move legislation forward. The Republicans already have that - they have 219 seats as opposed to the Democrats’ 214.

If House Republicans stay united, they don't need any Democrats to pass the funding package. But the margin for error is razor thin. They need 217 votes for the bill to pass.

While most House Republicans are expected to support the bill, given that Trump backs it, fiscal hawks in the party will raise objections. Thomas Massie of Kentucky - who has repeatedly voted against such stopgap funding extensions - is expected to vote no.

Nardine Saad

US President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for trying to distract from the potential conclusion of the federal government shutdown on Wednesday by releasing new Epstein documents.

In a post on Truth Social he writes: "The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects.

"Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.

"The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price.

"There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!"

However, some estimates on the shutdown's economic hit downsize that trillion-dollar figure to closer to $28bn.

About half an hour after his first post on Truth Social, Trump posted again, reiterating his first missive on the files.

"In other words, the Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!"

In a press briefing earlier today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also accused the Democrats of creating a "manufactured hoax" by releasing some of the documents this morning ahead of the House returning.