New York: The US Congress has finally voted to end the government shutdown after 42 days of paralysis of most operations.
The House of Representatives voted 222 to 209, mostly along partisan lines, to pass the resolution that had been approved by the Senate to temporarily fund the government till the end of the year.
The legislation now goes to US President Donald Trump, and the White House said he will sign it later in the night.
The legislation ending the longest government shutdown was passed without the Democrats getting the extension of Obamacare, the health insurance programme adopted during former President Obama’s presidency, and measures to avoid the huge increases in costs to those participating in the programme expected to start next year.
The Democrats had held up the measure in the Senate, where a procedural rule requires 60 votes to bring the legislation to a vote.
Although the Republicans had a slender majority in the Senate, they were short of the 60 and finally relied on eight Democratic Party defectors to hit that mark on Sunday.
It sailed through the Senate on Monday, and the House, which was in recess, was hastily reconvened on Wednesday to approve it.
In the House, six Democrats voted with the Republican majority, while two Republicans voted against it.
The shutdown affected a range of government services, from air travel to programmes of subsidised and free food for the poor.
Trump and the Democrats were locked in a battle of wills, with Trump and his party refusing to give in to the Democrats on Obamacare, and the Democrats refusing to budge.
Although the standoff may have contributed to the Republican Party’s reverses in elections this month — which Trump acknowledged — it was also affecting Democratic Party supporters who worked for the federal government and were not receiving their salaries, and the poor who depended on government aid.
This wore out some Democrats in the Senate, who decided to end the shutdown.
That has caused a rift in the party, with many criticising the party’s Senate Leader, Chuck Schumer, for not preventing the defections.
Under the legislation adopted to end the shutdown and fund the government, most government agencies will be funded through the end of the year, and a few till January 30.
All government employees, including those who did not work through the shutdown, will receive full pay for the period of the shutdown, and they will all be allowed to return to work.
Even if all the federal employees return to work, it will take a few days for the government to fully resume all operations.
Before the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson said, “On the Republican side, we operated in good faith. We need to get this government open as soon as possible”.
Defiant to the end, Democrats’ leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, said, “Either Republicans finally decide to extend the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) tax credits this year, or the American people will throw Republicans out of their jobs next year”.
(IANS)
