Trump signs bill to end 43-Day US Government shutdown

President Donald Trump signed a bill on Wednesday ending the longest government shutdown in US history, which lasted 43 days and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid.

The move came after the Republican-led House of Representatives approved a Senate-passed funding package largely along party lines.

Trump, speaking in the Oval Office surrounded by Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson, criticised Democrats and urged Americans to remember the shutdown chaos ahead of the midterm elections. “Today we are sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” he said. Johnson, in a pre-vote floor speech, blamed Democrats for causing unnecessary pain and described their actions as “wrong and cruel.”

The funding package provides for military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress through next fall, while the rest of government is funded through the end of January. Approximately 670,000 furloughed workers will return to their jobs, and federal employees who were kept on duty without pay, including over 60,000 air traffic controllers and airport security staff, will receive back pay. The deal also reinstates federal workers who were fired during the shutdown, and air travel disruptions are expected to gradually normalize.

Trump claimed, without evidence, that Democrats’ actions cost the country $1.5 trillion, though the Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown caused $14 billion in lost economic growth.

Democrats, who had held firm for more than five weeks demanding the extension of pandemic-era tax credits for health insurance, are now facing internal backlash after a group of eight Senate moderates cut a deal with Republicans offering a vote on health care subsidies in the Senate but no guaranteed action in the House. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries emphasised that Democrats had successfully highlighted the health care issue and would continue to press it into the 2026 midterms, despite their setback.

Progressive members and prominent Democratic figures expressed frustration with leadership. California Governor Gavin Newsom described the agreement as “pathetic,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called it an “empty promise,” and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg labelled it a “bad deal.” Meanwhile, the party is reckoning with divisions and criticism over its handling of the shutdown and the Senate negotiations.

The resolution of the shutdown restores normalcy to government operations but leaves lingering political tensions and unresolved debates over health care and internal Democratic unity ahead of upcoming elections.