US government shutdown ends as President Trump signs funding bill into law

From News Channel 9: President Donald Trump signed the funding bill passed by Congress into law, ending the historic 43-day U.S. government shutdown on Wednesday night. During the bill signing in the Oval Office, Trump took a jab at the Democrats, blaming the shutdown on their party.

“So I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,” Trump said. “When we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they’ve done to our country.”

He also encouraged Senators to end the filibuster so that the shutdown situation would not repeat. The funding package signed into law only stays in place until Jan. 30.

Don't forget we have another date coming up in the not-too-distant future. We can never let this happen again. So I say terminate the filibuster," Trump said.

GOP Senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have previously not been open to that "nuclear option" proposed by Trump.

The House passed the bill to fund the government on Wednesday night, in a 222-209 vote, making way for the government to reopen following a historic 43-day shutdown.

Six Democrats voted for the bill and two Republicans voted against it.

“The shutdown is finally over thanks to House and Senate Republicans,” Speaker Mike Johnson said, following the vote. “Absolutely no question the democrats were responsible for this."

As members debated on the floor leading up to the final vote, Johnson said he planned to "not waste any more time," in reference to the rule allowing him to debate for as long as he would like.

"Let's get the government open," Johnson said.

Leading up to the vote, Republicans and Democrats traded blows on the House floor. Democrats blamed Republicans for the shutdown and said they were “on vacation” while the House was out. Republicans, however, pushed back on this narrative and said that many were working in Washington or in their districts during the shutdown.

Where the hell have you been. Eight weeks of taxpayer-funded vacation for Republicans,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., on the House floor.

Before the vote, Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C., told The National News Desk he was confident the vote would pass. He added that he thinks moderate Democrats would join Republicans in voting for the bill.

“I just think it was wrong that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle played this game with this shutdown, knowing real people were getting hurt,” Moore said.

I’m glad folks came to their senses on this thing. Let’s move forward and nobody needs to play this game, neither side needs to,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Johnson told reporters he was ready for the shutdown to be over, ahead of the vote.

"I just want to apologize to Americans who still have flight cancellations or delays. Those made to go hungry. Troops and federal employees wondering when their next paycheck is coming. All of that is on the Democrats,” Johnson said.

DOJ provision
Aside from funding the government, the bill also includes a provision that allows Senators to sue the DOJ for previous subpoenas. Johnson said he was not expecting this in the bill.

Senators can be awarded up to $500,000 or more in damages by the government.

“I was surprised, I was shocked by it, I was angry about it,” Johnson told reporters.

However, Johnson added that he did not think that Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not meant to inflict any malice in adding the provision.

He said he would draft a separate bill to get rid of the provision, which he said the House would vote on sometime next week. He added that he was not the only GOP member who detested the provision.

Timeline of the funding package
In the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he supported the Senate deal, saying that “we’ll be reopening our country very quickly.”

"Based on everything I'm hearing, they haven't changed anything,” Trump said. “And we have support from enough Democrats, and we're going to be reopening our country.

The funding bill that finally passed the Senate after 40 days advanced through the House Rules Committee late last night.

All Republicans supported the bill, while all Democrats opposed it. Now, the bill is moving to be considered in front of the full House on Wednesday. The House Rules Committee met for more than six hours on Tuesday, ending around 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

During the hearing, Democrats on the committee tried to force votes on things related to the Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire on Dec. 31, the topic that held up the Senate for so long, but all failed.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attended the hearing, testifying in favor of his amendment that would extend Obamacare subsidies for the next three years.

The House has not been in session since Sept. 19, as they have been waiting for the Senate to approve the funding bill.

Democrats accused Republicans of taking a vacation during the shutdown and taking healthcare from Americans.

The Senate passed the deal to end the nation’s longest government shutdown Monday night.

The 60-40 vote allowed the measure to move ahead with the support of Republicans, and a group of eight Democrats that backed the bill despite opposition from the rest of their party.

The deal includes a reversal of President Donald Trump’s firings of federal employees during the shutdown, ensures backpay to federal workers, and includes provisions to prevent such actions in the future. It would also ensure food stamps are funded through fiscal year 2026.

Even though the Senate reached a deal, millions of Americans are still impacted by the shutdown.

Last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the FAA would be reducing flights at 40 major U.S. airports due to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

As of Tuesday morning, over 1,100 flights have been canceled, according to FlightAware.

Around 600 flights were also delayed.

The FAA started to cut flights by 4% on Friday and expected to increase to 10% over the next week. On Tuesday, the cuts were expected to increase by 6%, but it is not clear if the cuts will continue ahead of the House vote on Wednesday.

On Tuesday evening, the Supreme Court extended an order blocking full SNAP payments, while the government appears to be headed towards ending the shutdown, and food aid payments will resume.

The order will stay in place for several more days but is set to expire just before midnight on Thursday.

People who depend on SNAP in some states have received their full allocations for the month. Others, however, have yet to receive anything.

Opening the government again means 42 million American people would be able to receive aid from SNAP again to afford groceries.