Pres. Trump Signs Funding Bill to End Record-Setting Government Shutdown

President Trump signed a government funding package at the White House late Wednesday, formally ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. (per CBS News.) The President, surrounded by Republican members of Congress and some members of his Cabinet,  signed the funding bill that the House passed earlier Wednesday evening.

After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end Wednesday night as the House voted 222–209 to pass a Republican-backed funding bill, sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature. Two Republicans opposed the measure, while six Democrats crossed party lines to support it.

The legislation, already approved by the Senate in a 60–40 vote earlier this week, extends funding for most federal agencies through January 30. It also provides full-year appropriations for veterans programs, military construction, and nutrition assistance programs such as SNAP and WIC. Additionally, it guarantees back pay for furloughed federal workers and reverses Trump administration firings that occurred during the shutdown.

The bill’s passage followed a tense standoff that paralyzed Washington for weeks. The Senate’s breakthrough came after eight Democrats joined Republicans to move the legislation forward, ending the prolonged impasse that had disrupted millions of government employees and services.

House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized Democrats for holding out in hopes of attaching an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits to the bill, calling the strategy “utterly pointless and foolish.” He added, “This outcome was totally foreseeable. I said this would be the outcome when all this began back in mid-September. They did it anyway.”

Democratic leaders pushed back, vowing to continue their fight for health care affordability. “House Democrats will continue our fight to lower the high cost of living, decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” said Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar in a joint statement.

Jeffries said he intends to introduce a discharge petition that would force a House vote to extend ACA subsidies for three years, urging moderate Republicans to join Democrats in the effort. “Over the past several weeks, a handful of Republicans claimed to be interested in addressing the healthcare crisis that they have created in America … Now is the time for so-called traditional Republicans to join with House Democrats, sign the discharge petition and force a vote on our bill to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years,” he said.

Johnson, however, declined to guarantee a future vote on the issue, arguing that the ACA’s subsidy system needs reform. “Am I going to guarantee a vote on ACA unreformed COVID-era subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We got a lot of work to do on that,” Johnson said. “We, the Republicans, would demand a lot of reforms before anything like that was ever possible.”

Wednesday marked the House’s first full session in 54 days, after Johnson had sent members home in late September. Lawmakers were called back to Washington earlier this week amid nationwide travel disruptions caused by unpaid air traffic controllers affected by the shutdown.

While the funding bill ends the immediate crisis, it leaves unresolved disputes over health care and spending priorities that are expected to resurface by mid-December, when Senate Democrats are due a promised vote on the expiring ACA tax credits — setting up the next budget showdown on Capitol Hill.

Editorial credit: Amy Lutz / Shutterstock.com