A record-breaking 43-day federal government shutdown ended late Thursday night after President Donald Trump signed a funding package passed by Congress.
The legislative package provides funding for the government to operate through Jan. 30, but some parts of the government will be funded for three years as part of the package.
The House passed the bill with largely Republican support, and it cleared the Senate with eight Democrats joining the GOP majority.
The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, furloughed nearly 700,000 federal employees, impacted air travel, disrupted aid for 42 million food aid recipients and nonprofit groups, and left government contractors unpaid.
While the government is set to reopen Friday, officials expect backlogs and delays as workers catch up on weeks of missed work. Missed pay for federal employees will also take time to disburse, according to a CNN report.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle traded blame for the funding stalemate.
The president called the shutdown “extortion” by Democrats, but Trump stated he was willing to work with Democrats on health care.
Democrats who opposed the bill had voiced concerns that it did not address expiring health care credits, which they argued would hike the cost of health insurance for millions of Americans.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican, welcomed the end of the shutdown but criticized the lengthy battle.
“Tonight’s vote reopens the government—Finally,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “It returns 1.4 million public servants to their posts, restores paychecks, funds SNAP and WIC for the families who rely on them, and keeps our air travel system safe and functioning.”
He criticized the delay, saying Americans “bore the cost of political gamesmanship that served no one and helped nothing. That must never be how we govern.”
Fitzpatrick thanked colleagues, including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat, who he said “chose independence, patriotic common sense, and placing the American people where they belong: first.”
The Republican congressman said he would work with members of the House on health care.
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In a statement made last week during the shutdown, Fetterman expressed regret for those affected by the lack of funding.
“I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” Fetterman said. “It should’ve never come to this. This was a failure.”
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican, shared the frustration over the duration of the shutdown.
“After 43 long days, the government will finally reopen — as it should have been all along,” McCormick said. “I’m frustrated that it took this long, and as I met with Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth today, I heard a lot of feedback about how this shutdown was unnecessary and the strong desire for it to end.”
McCormick placed the blame on Democrats.
“I will never vote to shut the government down, and I remain committed to delivering on the promises I made to all Pennsylvanians,” McCormick said.
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