A budget that would end the longest shutdown in US history is heading to the House of Representatives for a crunch vote on Wednesday.

On day 42 of the impasse, representatives are returning to Washington to decide whether to approve a Senate package that would fund federal agencies for two months.

Republican leadership expressed confidence the spending plan would clear the lower chamber of Congress, despite their narrow majority. But top Democrats vowed to oppose it.

President Donald Trump has indicated he will sign it into law. "We're opening up our country," he said on Tuesday at a Veterans Day event in Arlington, Virginia. "Should have never been closed."

The shutdown, which began on 1 October, has left a million federal workers unpaid, halted food stamps for low-income Americans, and delayed air travel for flyers ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

With nearly 1,200 flights cancelled on Tuesday as unpaid air traffic controllers call in sick because of the funding deadlock, lawmakers are finding other ways to reach Washington.

Congressman Rick Crawford of Arkansas posted on X that he was carpooling with a fellow Republican, Trent Kelly of Mississippi, to the nation's capital.

Congressman Derrick Van Orden said he was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle from his home state of Wisconsin.

"It's going to be a little chilly," he posted on X of the 16-hour trip. "But I will do my duty."

The House Rules Committee advanced the bill in a procedural party-line vote by 8-4 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, capping a seven-hour session.

Republicans on the panel brushed aside Democratic amendments seeking to extend expiring health insurance subsidies - their main demand during the impasse.

The chamber is expected to reconvene at 16:00 EST (21:00 GMT) to hold one hour of debate on the legislation before a vote.

House Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York vowed to fight the bill.

"We're strongly opposed as House Democrats to this reckless Republican effort to continue to raise the high cost of living on everyday Americans," he told CNN.

Jeffries has expressed frustration with Senate Democrats who sided with Republicans on Monday night to pass the spending plan.

A central demand of Democrats during the shutdown has been that Republicans attach to the spending bill a provision to extend tax credits that make health insurance less expensive for 24 millions Americans.

But Republicans stayed united and refused to budge, agreeing only to allow a vote in December on the healthcare subsides, something they had offered weeks ago.

And there is no guarantee that measure will even pass the Senate, while House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to commit to a vote on the tax credits in that chamber.

Johnson has kept the House out of session for 53 days to pile pressure on Senate Democrats to agree a shutdown compromise.

Before Wednesday's vote he will swear in Arizona congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who won a special election in September.

Once she has taken the oath of office, the Republican majority in the House will be whittled down to five votes ? 219-214.

That means Johnson can only afford to lose two Republicans on any party-line vote.

The budget leaves the federal government on course to keep adding about $1.8tn (?1.4tn) a year to its $38tn in debt.

But Chip Roy of Texas said he was "unaware of any opposition of significance" to the bill from fiscal hawks in his House Freedom Caucus.

Potential Republican defectors Thomas Massie of Kentucky or Victoria Spartz of Indiana have remained tight-lipped so far on how they plan to vote.

But even if they do break ranks, the House Speaker could still get the bill over the line with the help of moderate Democrats, such as Jared Golden of Maine or Henry Cuellar of Texas.

Neither party appears to have emerged politically unscathed from this legislative imbroglio.

Opinion polls suggest voters believe Republicans shoulder slightly more of the blame, while Democrats were bitterly split by the brinkmanship.

And once the shutdown is over, appropriators have just two months to avert the next one.

Government funding would next be due to expire on 30 January. (BBC)

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