President Donald Trump signed a bill to reopen the government for three weeks, ending the partial government shutdown late Friday night.
The White House sent a statement notifying reporters that the bill had been signed by the president. No press was present for the bill signing, which ended the 35-day partial government shutdown – the longest in history.
Earlier in the evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the bill with eight pens in a public ceremony and gave the pens as souvenirs to her House Democratic colleagues.
The hastily passed bill will fully fund the government for three weeks and provide retroactive pay for federal government employees.
On Twitter, the president defended his decision to back down from his demands for border wall funding before he would sign a bill to fund the government.
“This was in no way a concession,” he wrote. “It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!”
Congress has three weeks to come up with a plan to fund border security, as a bi-partisan committee was formed in the Senate on Friday to come up with a compromise.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also defended the president on Twitter.
“In 21 days President Donald Trump is moving forward building the wall with or without the Democrats,” she wrote. “The only outstanding question is whether the Democrats want something or nothing.”
The president warned Congress Friday that if they failed to reach a compromise, he would declare a State of Emergency on the Southern border, allowing him the flexibility to fund border barriers using executive authority.
“I think we have a good chance,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll work with the Democrats and negotiate and if we can’t do that, then obviously we’ll do the emergency because that’s what it is. It’s a national emergency.”
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