Today's Edition
WASHINGTON (AFP)
US President Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history -- 43 days that paralysed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid.
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.
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.
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.
