US government shutdown ends as Obama signs bill print
President Barack Obama signed early Thursday a bill ending the
two-week US government shutdown and extending the Treasury’s borrowing
authority.
The White House announcement was the final piece in an
agonizing political drama that had raised the prospect of an
unprecedented US debt default and rattled markets around the world.
Office
of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a
separate statement that the government will try to get back to full
operating status as smoothly as possible.
“This has been a
particularly challenging time for Federal employees and I want to thank
our Nation’s dedicated civil servants for their continued commitment to
serving the American people,” she wrote.
Most employees furloughed
for the past two weeks are expected back to work Thursday, Burwell said
in a directive to federal agencies.
Moving with stunning speed,
Congress voted Wednesday to end the 16-day-old government shutdown and
avert the potential for the first major debt default in U.S. history in a
deal that gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open
government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare.
The
Senate voted 81-18 to approve the deal and sent it over to the House,
which quickly followed suit with a 285-144 vote on the measure —
amounting to an almost complete surrender for the GOP.
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