Trump signs spending bill to end longest shutdown in US history

WASHINGTON, United States

United States President, Donald Trump, has signed a spending bill to reopen the government and end the longest shutdown in US history.

He signed the short-term budget into law just hours after the House of Representatives voted 222-209 to approve it on Wednesday night, and two days after the Senate narrowly approved the same package.

In the Oval Office, Trump said the government would now "resume normal operations" after "people were hurt so badly" from the 43-day shutdown.

Many government services have been suspended since October, and around 1.4 million federal employees have been on unpaid leave or working without pay. Food aid has also been left in limbo and air travel has been disrupted nationwide.

Government services are expected to reopen in the coming days, while disruptions to air travel will likely ease ahead of the looming Thanksgiving holiday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had reduced air traffic because of staff shortages owing to the shutdown.

That had direct impacts on members of Congress attempting to reach the nation’s capital on Wednesday for the House vote.

Derrick Van Orden, a Wisconsin Republican, rode his motorcycle nearly 1,000 miles (1,609km) across the country to cast his vote in the House before it was sent to the president's desk.

The bill only provides funding to keep the government open until 30 January, when lawmakers will once again need to find a way to fund the government.

Before he signed it into law, Trump repeatedly cast blame for the shutdown on the Democratic Party. "They did it purely for political reasons," he said.

"When we come up to midterms and other things, don't forget what they've done to our country," he added.

Senate Democrats were able to trigger the shutdown despite being a minority in the chamber, because Republicans were still seven short of the 60-vote threshold required to pass a funding bill.

They initially refused to support the bill, demanding that Republicans agree to extend health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Republicans maintained that a healthcare discussion could come after the government was reopened.

But on Sunday, a group of eight Senate Democrats broke from the party and helped pass the spending package. They voted for it in exchange for a promise of a vote on those healthcare subsidies in December.

It led to fury within the Democratic Party, and public criticism from figures such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and California Governor Gavin Newsom.