U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation on Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, just two hours after the House of Representatives voted to restore food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
The Republican-led House approved the bill 222–209, with Trump’s backing helping unify his party despite strong Democratic opposition over the failure to secure extended federal health insurance subsidies.
Trump's signature on the bill, (the funding package was cleared by the Senate earlier in the week), will bring federal workers idled by the 43-day shutdown back to their jobs starting as early as Thursday.
However, it remains unclear how quickly full government services and operations will resume.
"We can never let this happen again," Trump said in the Oval Office during a late-night signing ceremony that he used to criticise Democrats.
"This is no way to run a country."
The deal extends funding through to 30 January, leaving the federal government on a path to keep adding about $1.8 trillion a year to its $38 trillion in debt.
The shutdown's end offers some hope that services crucial to air travel in particular would have some time to recover with the critical Thanksgiving holiday travel wave just two weeks away.
Restoration of food aid to millions of families may also make room in household budgets for spending as the Christmas shopping season moves into high gear.
It also means the restoration in coming days of the flow of data on the U.S. economy from key statistical agencies.
Some data gaps are likely to be permanent, however, with the White House saying employment and Consumer Price Index reports covering the month of October might never be released.
By many economists' estimates, the shutdown was shaving more than a tenth of a percentage point from gross domestic product over each of the roughly six weeks of the outage, although most of that lost output is expected to be recouped in the months ahead.
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Cuba has rejected suggestions that the future of its political system or President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s term was discussed in talks with the United States, after reports Washington wanted him removed from power.
Uzbekistan has outlined plans to select its first astronaut and launch two Earth observation satellites, as it steps up efforts to build a national space programme and strengthen its scientific and technological capacity.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for 21 March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
A U.S. federal arts body has approved the design of a 24-karat gold commemorative coin featuring President Donald Trump, on Thursday (19 March) paving the way for its release as part of celebrations marking the country’s 250th anniversary on 4 July.
Israel reportedly launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Friday (20 March), a day after U.S. President Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris, the martial artist, actor and cultural icon best known for his roles in action films and the long-running CBS series Walker, Texas Ranger, has died at the age of 86.
Transport groups across the Philippines launched a nationwide strike on Thursday in protest against rising oil prices. The action affected 15 to 20 protest centres in Metro Manila, with similar demonstrations taking place across several major provinces.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has refused to lift his opposition to a €90 billion ($104 billion) European Union loan to help Ukraine keep up its fight against Russia’s invasion, following a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday (19 March).
President Donald Trump says the U.S. may start winding down operations against Iran but insists other nations must secure the Strait of Hormuz. Overnight, Israeli strikes hit Tehran and Beirut, while the UK approved the use of its bases for U.S. strikes.
Cuba has rejected suggestions that the future of its political system or President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s term was discussed in talks with the United States, after reports Washington wanted him removed from power.
Fourteen people died and 25 were seriously injured in a fire at a car parts factory in the South Korean city of Daejeon, fire authorities said on Saturday (21 March).
U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators will hold talks in Miami on Saturday that could lay the groundwork for another meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a source familiar with the matter said.
Slovenia heads to the polls on Sunday (22 March) in a closely contested race between incumbent Prime Minister Robert Golob and right-wing former Prime Minister Janez Janša.
Iceland could reopen talks on joining the European Union after a 13-year pause, as shifting security concerns and renewed economic debate bring EU membership back to the centre of national politics.
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