US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history — 43 days.
The US House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to approve a US Senate-passed package that would reopen federal departments and agencies.
Trump criticized Democrats as he put his signature to the bill later in the Oval Office at the White House, urging Americans to remember the chaos when voting in US midterm elections in a year’s time.
Photo: AFP
“Today we are sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” said Trump, surrounded by Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson had earlier pointed the finger at the minority Democratic Party in a floor speech before the vote.
“They knew that it would cause pain and they did it anyway,” he said. “The whole exercise was pointless. It was wrong and it was cruel.”
The package funds military construction, veterans’ affairs, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Congress itself through next fall, and the rest of government through the end of January.
About 670,000 furloughed civil servants are to report back to work, and a similar number who were kept at their posts with no compensation — including more than 60,000 air traffic controllers and airport security staff — would get back pay.
The deal also restores federal workers fired by Trump during the shutdown, while air travel that has been disrupted across the country will gradually return to normal.
Trump accused Democrats of costing the country US$1.5 trillion.
While the full financial toll of the shutdown has yet to be determined, the US Congressional Budget Office estimated that it has caused US$14 billion in lost growth.
Republicans had almost no room for error as the party’s majority is down to two votes.
Democratic leadership had urged members to vote no and all but a handful held the line.
Although polling showed that the public was mostly on Democrats’ side throughout the standoff, Republicans are widely seen as having done better from its conclusion.
For more than five weeks, Democrats held firm on refusing to reopen the government unless Trump agreed to extend tax credits for health insurance.
Election victories in multiple states last week gave Democrats further encouragement and a renewed sense of purpose.
However, a group of eight Democratic senators broke ranks to cut a deal with Republicans that offers a vote in the upper chamber on healthcare subsidies — but no floor time in the House and no guarantee of action.
Democrats are now deep in a painful reckoning over how their tough stance crumbled without any notable win.
Democratic leadership is arguing that — while the healthcare demands went largely unheard — they shone a spotlight on an issue they hope will power them to victory in the midterm elections.
“Over the last several weeks, we have elevated successfully the issue of the Republican healthcare crisis, and we’re not backing away from it,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.
However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing a backlash for failing to keep his members unified, with a handful of House Democrats calling for him to resign.
Outside Washington, some top Democrats added their own voices to the chorus of opprobrium.
California Governor Gavin Newsom called the agreement “pathetic,” while Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said it amounted to an “empty promise.”
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