US shutdown ends as Trump signs funding bill

President Donald Trump signed legislation on Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history, less than two hours after the House of Representatives approved a funding package 222–209. The bill restarts food assistance, brings hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on payroll and stabilises air-traffic operations.

Funding now runs through January 30, giving agencies time to restore services but leaving questions about how quickly operations will fully recover. Lawmakers also face another round of negotiations before the end of the year.

Republican Representative David Schweikert likened the political standoff to a sitcom, saying Washington spent 40 days “and I still don’t know what the plotline was.” He added that policymaking driven by anger had prolonged the crisis.

The reopening should ease pressures on airports ahead of the Thanksgiving travel wave and restore the economic data releases that investors and policymakers rely on. The White House indicated that jobs and inflation reports covering October may never be published due to the data gap.

Economists estimated the six-week closure trimmed growth by more than a tenth of a percentage point each week, though much of the lost output may be recouped over coming months.

Democrats had hoped to leverage the impasse to lock in an extension of health-insurance subsidies. While a Senate vote is planned in December, Speaker Mike Johnson offered no such commitment in the House.

Outgoing Representative Mikie Sherrill used her final House speech to urge colleagues to resist policies that cut aid and healthcare, telling Americans: “Don’t give up the ship.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 50% of respondents blamed Republicans for the shutdown versus 47% who blamed Democrats. As the House returned from a long recess, attention also turned to efforts to force disclosure of unclassified Jeffrey Epstein records—an issue set to spark fresh partisan clashes after Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in following a special election.

The package adds privacy protections for senators by making most undisclosed seizures of phone data illegal and allowing affected lawmakers to seek up to $500,000 in damages and legal fees.