The longest shutdown in U.S. history has ended

US President Donald Trump signed into law a bill to fund the US government on the evening of November 12, North American time, ending a 43-day shutdown of most federal agencies in the country, the White House press office said. Trump's signature came hours after the Republican-controlled lower house of the US Congress passed the law by a vote of 222 to 209.

The law restores funding for agency operations at the same level through January 30, 2026. This will give congressmen time to complete work on a detailed budget appropriations bill for the current fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, Reuters writes.

The document establishes annual funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction projects, and Congress itself. Congressmen have yet to draft funding bills for the remaining government agencies.

The law prohibits the White House from conducting mass layoffs of federal agency employees until January 30 - this was insisted on by Democratic congressmen. Employees, whom Trump tried to cut after the start of the shutdown, will be reinstated and will receive their salary arrears. At the same time, the document does not contain any new restrictions that would prevent the US president from unilaterally cutting or withholding funding allocated by Congress, Reuters notes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor