Government Has Re-Opened, But Things Are Not Yet Back to Normal

Not all government functions will immediately be back to normal. Air travel will remain disrupted while airlines scramble to get planes and crews repositioned after the FAA-ordered slowdown at major airports forced cancellations and scheduling changes. Critical economic data relied on by businesses and policymakers will be delayed or not released at all, officials said, and furloughed workers may be slow to return to work.

The CR passed by Congress also reverses federal employee layoffs carried out at many agencies during the shutdown and requires the government to rehire fired workers, many of whom may have accepted other jobs.  CivicMatch, which connects federal employees with jobs in state or local governments, reported a 74% spike in federal workers signing up for the platform during the first five weeks of the shutdown, compared to the five weeks before the shutdown. Last week was one of the platform’s busiest weeks in months, CEO Caitlin Lewis told CNN.

Here’s some of what technology executives can expect over the next few weeks.

SEC/CFPB

• Suspended work on crypto-related matters will resume, including rules on exchange-traded products and digital asset trading oversight. (SEC)
• Open-banking remains on hold for now. A federal judge temporarily paused the CFPB’s Biden-era open-banking rule prior to the shutdown to give the agency time to reconsidering its position. That time table was pushed back by the shutdown and will now need to be restarted. (Reuters)
• The CFPB itself remains in funding limbo. The Trump administration declared the agency’s funding structure unlawful, meaning the regulator could find itself unfunded in early 2026 unless Congress acts to changing the funding mechanism. With the now greatly shorted legislative calendar for the rest of the year, action on the CFPB may get pushed down the priority list. (Politico)

Treasury/FinCEN

• Treasury will resume sifting public comments on the GENIUS Act stablecoin framework and continue its recalibration of AML rules. FinCEN has already signaled delaying the investment adviser AML program rule to 2028. (Federal Register)

FTC/DOJ Antitrust Division

• Merger reviews resume. The clock continued to tick on HSR waiting periods during the shutdown but staff now returns to fullscope investigations and litigation. “HSR waiting periods will continue, but the FTC will not grant early termination.” (White & Case)
• Fraud reporting portals and robocall tools, paused during the shutdown, will reopen, restoring the FTC’s ability to police platforms and adtech. (Reuters)

Commerce Department

• Work on Trump’s AI Action Plan was disrupted during the shutdown, putting work on executive orders in it behind schedule. A planned blueprint for an AI export program got downgraded to a request for information, disappointing many industry leaders. Reviewing submitted comments will now restart but the timeline for a full rollout is unclear (GovCIO).

OSTP

• The Office of Science and Technology issued a request for information on AI regulations just prior to the shutdown. The deadline to submit comments was October 27. Work on reviewing those comments will now resume. (Federal Register)

Congress

• The Senate remained in session during the shutdown allowing some work to continue. Bipartisan bills were introduced on kids’ AI chatbot safety and requiring agencies to report AI-related workforce reductions but there was no further action on them.
• Work slowed on a crypto market structure bill in the Senate during the shutdown and was looking shaky heading into it. Whatever passes would still need to be reconciled with the House-passed Clarity Act, which could be contentious.
• With the House back in session, committee hearings have been scheduled on chatbot safety, the future of AI and digital influencers (U.S. House)

Hanging over all of it is continued uncertainty over 2026. The continuing resolution signed by the president provides funding only through January 30. Without a long-term budget agreement, another shutdown could be in the offing, and several contentious issues remain to be resolved between now and then.

The Senate is committed to holding a vote on continuing the Affordable Care Act subsidies, a key Democratic demand in the deal to get the votes to re-open the government. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he has no plans to bring a vote to extend the subsidies to the floor there. The related issue of restoring funding to Medicaid also divides the parties with no resolution in sight.