President Donald Trump officially ended the longest federal shutdown in United States history after signing legislation passed by Congress following 43 days of government closure.
Trump signed the funding bill in the Oval Office surrounded by top Republican officials and national business leaders. During the signing ceremony, he directed blame toward Democrats for the record-breaking shutdown.
“I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,” Trump stated, urging voters to remember the shutdown during midterm elections.
“Today, we’re sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion, because that’s what it was, they tried to extort, the Democrats tried to extort our country,” Trump said before signing the bill.
“Yet, the extremists in the other party insisted on creating the longest government shutdown in American history, and they did it purely for political reasons,” Trump added.
The president renewed his call to eliminate the Senate filibuster, a proposal that has faced resistance from members of both political parties.
The House of Representatives passed the Senate’s funding bill with a vote of 222 to 209. The legislation provides funding for the Departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and military construction projects for fiscal year 2026, while extending funding for other federal agencies through January 30, 2026.
Eight Senate Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill, the Daily Mail reported. Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance funding legislation without bipartisan support.
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This news comes just after Trump sparked intense backlash from members of his own political coalition after defending a controversial visa program that allows foreign workers into the United States.
The president’s comments emerged during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham that aired Tuesday, where he argued for the continued use of H-1B visas to bring skilled workers into the country.
Trump also stood by previous statements supporting the entry of up to 600,000 Chinese students into the United States.
The H-1B visa program has long divided Americans between those who see it as vital for maintaining competitive advantage and critics who contend visa holders displace American workers. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), for example, immediately responded to Trump’s statements, declaring herself “America First and America Only.”
“I believe in the American people. I am one of you. I believe you are good, talented, creative, intelligent, hardworking, and want to achieve. I am solidly against you being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs,” Greene said.
“I am solidly against allowing foreign students into our colleges and universities, like 600,000 Chinese students, just to financially prop them up. If they fail, they fail. The system in place isn’t helping our young people anyway,” she added.
Anthony Sabatini, a Republican county commissioner in Florida, warned about the 2026 midterm elections. “This is insane—we’re going to lose the mid-terms so badly,” Sabatini said in a Tuesday post on X.
“We’ve never seen an administration crash & burn in its first year so badly—for no reason other than to appease donors and special interests.”
