US Gov’t Shutdown: Trump Signs Temporary Reopening Bill

Local Editor

US President Donald Trump signed a short-term spending bill into law Friday night that does not include his requested $5.7 billion for a border wall.

The White House announced late Friday that Trump had signed the measure, a three-week stopgap bill that will reopen shuttered parts of the government through February 15.

The funding measure puts an end to the longest government shutdown in US history.

Congressional approval of the measure came quickly after Trump conceded earlier Friday to mounting pressure over the ongoing shutdown, agreeing to a temporary funding measure that would allow federal employees to return to work but that does not include the billions of dollars in border wall funding he's spent the past month demanding.

"I will sign a bill to open our government for three weeks," Trump said in an address on Friday, saying that he was announcing that "we have reached a deal to end the shutdown."

He added that "a bipartisan conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers and leaders" will work to "put together a homeland security package for me to shortly sign into law."

Democrats have insisted throughout the shutdown that Trump should sign a measure to reopen the government before they proceed to a debate on border wall funding.

After weeks of resistance, Trump agreed to just that on Friday, paving the way for congressional Democrats and Republicans to approve a stop-gap funding bill.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team