US Government Reopens After A Shutdown Of 16 Days

17 Oct 2013

The Congress voted late Wednesday on reopening the federal agencies, calling civil servants back to work and raising the $16.7 trillion debt limit after shutting down the US Government for 16 days and driving the country towards the brink of default.

An agreement struck between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) ended the last month’s stalemate, when conservatives drove GOP leaders to use the shutdown threat to block a monumental expansion of health coverage funded by the government.

However, that campaign was mainly successful in undermining Republican Party’s popular support. By late Wednesday, scores of anxious GOP lawmakers were ready to pass the bill to increase the borrowing power of the Department of Treasury and fund the government without any strings attached.

On Wednesday evening, the Senate endorsed the deal 81 to 18, with more than half of Republicans from the Senate voting yes.

This was followed by the House’s approval of the measure with 285 to 144 votes. In approving the measure, 87 Republicans joined a united Democratic meeting allowing the Congress to meet a critical deadline of the Department of Treasury with only a day to spare.

Shortly after midnight, President Obama signed the measure into law restoring government services, putting furloughed federal employees back on the job and reopening monuments and parks across the US, most of them in the area of Washington.

The White House budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, said in a statement that employees must expect to come back to work in the morning.

The measure also assures the workers will provide extra cash for fighting wildfires out West, be paid for their time spent at home and aid flood-ravaged Colorado.