Trump signs bill to end record-breaking US shutdown

President Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history -- 43 days that paralyzed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game.

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to approve a Senate-passed package that will reopen federal departments and agencies, as many Democrats fume over what they see as a capitulation by party leaders.

Trump lashed out at Democrats as he put his signature to the bill later in the Oval Office, urging Americans to remember the chaos when voting in hotly contested U.S. midterm elections in a year's time.

"Today we are sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion," said Trump, surrounded by gleeful Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson had earlier pointed the finger at the minority party in a withering 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 Department of Agriculture, and Congress itself through next fall, and the rest of the government through the end of January.

Around 670,000 furloughed civil servants will 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 -- will 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 falsely accused Democrats of costing the country $1.5 trillion. While the full financial toll of the shutdown has yet to be determined, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it has caused $14 billion in lost growth.

AFP