The House of Representatives of the United States Congress approved this Wednesday an agreement that ends the government shutdown longest in the history of the country, which It lasted for 43 days after disagreements between Republicans and Democrats.
The House approved the bill that the Senate had advanced on Monday to reopen the Government with a vote of 222-209, with six Democrats voting in favor and two Republicans voting against, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Greg Steube of Florida.
The measure will now be transferred to the Oval Office, where the president, Donald Trumpsummoned the press at 9:45 p.m. local time (3:45 a.m. Spanish time) to sign the agreement before the cameras and put an end to the longest closure in the country’s history.
“History reminds us that government shutdowns never change the outcome, only the cost to the American people,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “Over the past 43 days, the facts have not changed, the votes needed have not changed, and the path forward has not changed.”
The hardline Democrats criticized the approved measure because has left out the extension of subsidies federal health care Obamacare that expire at the end of the year.
For her part, the Democratic representative of New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, assured that the Trump Administration acted with “cruelty” against the American people during the closure by trying to stop full federal funding for food stamps on which some 42 million residents depend.
The measure that the House approved this Wednesday includes a spending package that would finance the Government until Januaryas well as three separate spending bills to cover programs related to agriculture, military construction, veterans, and legislative agencies through most of 2026.
In addition, US media have reported that the Republicans “quietly” added a clause that will allow the ruling party to sue the Government for at least half a million dollars for having been investigated for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The package includes a provision that would reverse worker layoffs federal payments made during the shutdown and would guarantee retroactive pay for those who have been furloughed.
Different federal agencies have asked their workers in advance to return to their jobs this Thursday since after Trump’s signature tonight the validity of the closure will have ended.