Trump signs $1.2 trillion funding bill, ending government shutdown

US President Donald Trump signed a roughly $1.2 trillion government funding bill on Tuesday, ending a partial federal shutdown that began over the weekend and setting the stage for an intense debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding.

The president moved quickly to sign the bill after the House approved it by a 217–214 vote.

“This bill is a great victory for the American people,” Trump said.

Tuesday’s vote wrapped up congressional work on 11 annual appropriations bills that fund government agencies and programmes through September 30, ending the partial government shutdown that began on Saturday.

Passage of the legislation marked the end of one funding fight, but the start of another. That is because the package funds the Department of Homeland Security for only two weeks, through February 13, at the behest of Democrats who are demanding tighter restrictions on immigration enforcement after the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis.

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Difficult negotiations lie ahead, particularly for the agency that enforces the nation’s immigration laws – US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries quickly warned that Democrats would not support any further temporary funding for Homeland Security without substantial changes to its immigration operations, raising the potential of another shutdown for the department and its agencies.

“We need dramatic change in order to make sure that ICE and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security are conducting themselves like every other law enforcement organisation in the country,” Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects the two sides will be able to reach an agreement by the deadline.

“This is no time to play games with that funding. We hope that they will operate in good faith over the next 10 days as we negotiate this,” Johnson said. “The president, again, has reached out.”

But Johnson’s counterpart across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R–S.D., sounded less optimistic. “There’s always miracles, right?” Thune told reporters.

The funding bill that cleared Congress on Tuesday contained provisions that appealed to both parties.

Republicans avoided a massive catch-all funding bill known as an omnibus as part of this year’s appropriations process. Such bills, often taken up before the holiday season with lawmakers anxious to return home, have contributed to higher federal spending, they say.

Democrats were able to fend off some of Trump’s most draconian proposed cuts while adding language to help ensure funds are spent as stipulated by Congress.

Still, Johnson needed near-unanimous support from his Republican conference to proceed to a final vote. He narrowly secured it during a roll call that was held open for nearly an hour as leaders worked to gain backing from a handful of GOP lawmakers seeking to advance unrelated priorities.

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The final vote was not much easier for Republican leaders. In the end, 21 Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats in voting against the bill, while the same number of Democrats sided with most Republicans in voting in favour.

Trump weighed in on Monday in a social media post, urging Republicans to stay united and telling holdouts: “There can be NO CHANGES at this time.”

The partial shutdown that is now ending differed in many ways from the autumn impasse, which affected more agencies and lasted a record 43 days.

That earlier standoff centred on extending temporary coronavirus pandemic-era subsidies for people receiving health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Democrats were unsuccessful in securing their inclusion in the deal to end that shutdown.

Congress has since made progress. Some of the six appropriations bills passed before Tuesday ensured the current shutdown had less impact. Key programmes such as nutrition assistance and fully operating national parks and historic sites were already funded through September 30.

The remaining bills passed on Tuesday mean the vast majority of the federal government is now funded.

“You might say that now that 96 per cent of the government is funded, it’s just 4 per cent that’s outstanding,” Johnson said. “But it’s a very important 4 per cent.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)