The partial shutdown of government operations ended in the United States on Tuesday with President Donald Trump signing a budget package into law.
Earlier on Tuesday, the House of Representatives had approved the package in a close vote of 217-214. The upper chamber of the US Congress, the Senate, had already given its approval last week.
“This bill is a great victory for the American people,” Trump said of the legislation, which was held up by Democratic opposition to funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for the controversial operations by federal agencies targeting migrants.
The approval of the budget package secures funding for most of the government apparatus until the end of September, with the exception of the DHS. As a compromise solution, the package provides the department with only temporary transitional funding until February 13.
What do we know about the latest shutdown?
Funding for government agencies expired on Saturday when Congress failed to act in time to avert a shutdown. So far, the shutdown has not resulted in major disruptions to government services.
Last week, Trump negotiated a spending deal with Senate Democrats. The Democrats are demanding new restraints on Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown following the killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.
The Trump administration is already deploying body cameras for immigration agents in Minnesota, partially acceding to one of the Democrats’ demands.
The previous shutdown, which lasted a record 43 days in October and November, furloughed hundreds of thousands of federal workers and cost the US economy an estimated $11 billion (€9.3 billion).
Edited by: Rana Taha
