Madrid November 13 (Europe Press) –
In the final hours of this Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed funding legislation that will end the longest federal government shutdown in the country’s history in 43 days, after a series of measures were approved by the Senate on Monday and approved by the House of Representatives this Wednesday, just before the president’s signature.
“With my signature, the federal government will resume normal operations, and my administration, along with our partners in Congress, will continue to work to reduce the cost of living, restore public safety (…), and make America affordable for all Americans once again,” the White House occupant declared at the promulgation ceremony.
Leading Republicans called the past six weeks a “Democratic shutdown” and accused the rebels of inflicting “tremendous damage” on the country, citing “20,000 flights canceled or delayed” due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. He also lamented that Democrats had “stripped the paychecks of more than 1 million government employees and cut off food aid to millions of Americans in need,” and urged Americans to “never forget” ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for November 2026.
Shortly before that, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a package of funding measures sent by the Senate two days earlier to end the government shutdown that President Trump had hinted at, including the expiration of funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which more than 40 million Americans depend on.
The proposal was approved with 222 votes in favor (including six Democrats) and 209 votes against, including two Republicans who opposed public spending implicit in the language, including funding for military construction, veterans projects, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, and the Legislature through September 30, 2026. It also includes funding for the rest of the government until January 30 next year and the return of more MPs. More than 4,000 federal workers were laid off during the shutdown, according to the digital newspaper The Hill.
The Democrats who voted yes in the House justified their position by alluding to the importance of reinvigorating federal funding, in a similar way to the eight Democratic senators who voted with Republicans to approve the package in the Senate on Monday, news portal The Hill reported.
But the law is at risk of a setback after several Republicans opposed a resolution included in the Senate that would give them the power to sue the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars if their phone records were among those seized during the federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, promised to move quickly on another bill to repeal the provision. Voting will take place next week.
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1 after a temporary funding proposal by Democratic lawmakers seeking to extend federal subsidy programs for health insurance stalled in the Senate.
A group of centrist Democratic senators agreed with Republicans to approve the initiative in exchange for a future vote on extending health aid. The decision has been heavily criticized by his own party, where some members have called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to resign, even though his own colleague in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, has defended his role and continuity.
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