US government reopens with clock running on funding talks
- 800,000 federal employees return to work after a 35-day shutdown
- Lawmakers have until February 15 to address border security and possibly avoid another shutdown
The US government reopened on Monday with about 800,000 federal workers returning after a 35-day shutdown as lawmakers geared up for talks to avoid another stand-off before funding runs out again in three weeks.
Amid mounting pressure, US President Donald Trump agreed to end the longest government shutdown in history as the effects spread across the country.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday that the shutdown cost about US$11 billion and shaved 0.2 percent off the nation’s annual economic growth forecasts.
Trump and Congress reached a deal to reopen the roughly one-quarter of the government that had been closed despite the president not getting the US$5.7 billion he had demanded to build his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border.
Still, it remained to be seen how lawmakers address border security before the February 15 deadline while avoiding another closure. A committee of lawmakers from both parties will try to negotiate a compromise on border security as Congress prepared to reconvene on Monday.
“Government is open again, but we cannot forget what shutdowns mean: unnecessary anguish for millions of Americans,” Representative Madeleine Dean, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said in a tweet.