The signing ceremony took place at the White House, allowing government departments to resume operations starting Thursday, according to official instructions issued to department employees who were forced into unpaid leave during the shutdown period, as reported by an agency correspondent.
During the signing ceremony of the law, Trump stated, “It will take weeks, maybe months, to accurately assess the damage caused by the Democrats’ actions, including the severe harm they inflicted on our economy, our people, and our families.” The US President also accused the Democrats in Congress of “enjoying the suffering” of citizens during the longest government shutdown in US history.
Trump, speaking at the White House before signing the budget bill, noted that both the Senate and the House of Representatives had reached an agreement to resume negotiations later on the full budget before the end of the fiscal year to avoid another shutdown. The federal government has been shut down since October 1st, leading to hundreds of thousands of employees being sent on forced unpaid leave.
The White House mentioned that budget disagreements caused an economic growth slowdown of up to two percentage points in the last quarter of this year. It is noted that the previous longest government shutdown also occurred during Trump’s term in 2019 and lasted 35 days, making the total shutdown periods during his presidency longer than those experienced by other US administrations since 1980 when the current system was established, requiring the government to cease operations if the budget is not approved.
