Government Shutdown Over: What Trump’s Bill Means for Millions Now

President Donald Trump sign a government funding bill on Wednesday night billing off the longest U.S. government shutdown of 43 days. The partisan clash, as per reports from PTI, left a huge number of government employees getting no salary, created travel chaos across the country and also resulted in food banks having to deal with more people.

The signing happened just a few hours after the measure was passed by the House of Representatives with a largely party vote of 222-209. The Senate had earlier on Monday given the go-ahead for the bill.

“We are sending a very strong signal today that we will not and never give in to extortion,” Trump said while signing the legislation. “It is a great opportunity to sign this very good bill and making the country working again.”

The shutdown saw the administration using very strong and very aggressive tactics, such as project cancellation and employee dismissal, in trying to get the Democrats to meet their demands.

The stuck funding issue was mainly due to the Democrats who were very firm on what they wanted in return for agreeing to a short-term funding bill. One of the main points was making the health insurance tax credit under the Affordable Care Act, which is a very important source of support for many Americans, as it lowers premiums, extended. This subsidy, which was increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and then some more under President Biden's energy and health reforms, was due to expire at the end of December.

According to CBO estimates, without it, the average cost of insurance could go up by 100% and more than 2 million people would be left without coverage.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned, "Never before have American families been put through such a trial as having their health care expenses increase in a split second — through the roof, that is." Democrats wanted to negotiate over the tax credit, but Republicans insisted on a funding bill first before any talks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said, "Republicans are willing to talk with Democrats, the only requirement is that they stop the government hostage-taking over their partisan needs."

The Congressional Budget Office indicated that the most part of the economic shutdown damage would be reversed once the government would get back to normal operations, but some losses would be considered permanent at the amount of $11 billion in case of a six-week closure.

The government shutdown brought about a lot of hardships for Americans. Federal workers experienced paychecks being missed, which put them under financial strain and caused emotional stress. The air passengers had to deal with the consequences of canceled and delayed flights, and classes like the one for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) saw benefits being interrupted. A lot of food banks in the country were overwhelmed with the number of Americans looking for basic food items as people flocked to them.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., remarked, "This mess harms not only our constituents and economy but also provides a very bad signal to foreign countries. We would be showing our allies that we are not to be depended upon and telling our foes that even simple Congressional duties are beyond our capabilities."

The approval of the funding bill not only brings back the government to its normal functioning but also provides a means for the payment of the government employees who have been affected during the shutdown. Therefore, it can be inferred that government agencies, travel, and safety-net programs are back to their routine operations.