The president donald trump On Wednesday, he signed the law that puts an end to the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, after 43 days of tough political struggle between Republicans and Democrats.
Trump signed the regulations that the Republican majority in the House of Representatives had approved shortly before, by 222 votes in favor and 209 against.
“Today we send a clear message that we will never submit to extortion,” the president told reporters at the White House.
The budget paralysis It forced the temporary dismissal of hundreds of thousands of officials, caused the cancellation of thousands of flights and anguish among families who depended on public aid to survive.
“They knew they were going to cause damage, and they did it anyway,” accused House Speaker Mike Johnson, referring to the Democrats.
“We will continue to defend the rights of Americans“, the leader of the opposition bench, Hakeem Jeffries, had claimed shortly before, in the previous debate.
Parliamentary arithmetic favored the Republicans, who have a very slim majority in Congress, but who have shown better voting discipline in both chambers.
The Democrats, on the other hand, appeared in the end divided between a leadership that wanted to keep in touch with the government, and certain moderate legislators who chose to break ranks.
Congressional research services estimate that the country lost up to $14 billion in this budget paralysis.
Some 670,000 civil servants will return to work with the right to pay starting Thursday.
The health debate
The Senate had voted on Monday in favor of reopening thanks to the participation of eight Democrats and the opposition of a single Republican.
The titanic efforts of the Democrats to try to reopen the whole great discussion on subsidies for health coverage ended up frustrated.
Republicans limited themselves to promising a separate, short-term debate in Congress on helping millions of Americans pay for their health coverage.
Johnson and the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, John Thune, showed mettle throughout weeks of enormous pressure, which included flight cancellations across the country due to the lack of air traffic controllers, who were not paid for almost two months.
The nervousness of the Democrats
The minority leader in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer, voted against the reopening, and Jeffries maintained the same attitude.
“Health care for people in this country is about to become unaffordable,” Jeffries cried.
The controversy lies in the so-called Obamacarethe health reform approved during the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama, which represented a first attempt to introduce universal public health coverage throughout the country.
That coverage, which the Supreme Court ruled could not be mandatory, has survived thanks to tax credits approved by Democrats.
Faced with the coronavirus pandemic crisis, Democrat Joe Biden extended and expanded subsidies in 2022 to help millions of Americans pay for this health coverage.
This aid expires at the end of the year, so policies may rise considerably.
Republicans argue that these subsidies should only help the most unprotected sectors, and not be extended indiscriminately.
During the bitter debates surrounding the government shutdown, Republicans also accused Democrats of wanting to benefit millions of undocumented immigrants with these subsidies.
Polls showed that the majority of the population blamed Trump and the Republicans for the closure, since they dominate the White House and Congress.
But their unity remained almost seamless, while anger grew in public opinion.
Nervousness ended up weighing more on the Democratic ranks, which just a week ago celebrated a series of victories in their electoral fiefdoms, including the election of a mayor who declares himself a socialist in New York.
The generational change accelerates in that game. Veteran House leader Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement last week, and Schumer appears increasingly questioned in the Senate.
