Trump Signs Congressional Bill to End Federal Government Shutdown

Following the approval of a temporary budget plan to end the federal government shutdown in Congress, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, signed the bill on Monday evening, January 22. Initially, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the temporary budget plan with 81 votes for and 18 against. An hour later, members of the House of Representatives also agreed to the temporary budget plan. According to this plan, the necessary funding for the federal government will be provided until February 8 (for a duration of 16 days). Now, with Trump's signature on the congressional bill, the shutdown of parts of the federal government will come to an end. Meanwhile, it is reported that Republicans in the Senate have promised to address the DACA issue, concerning undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, in order to gain Democratic cooperation. Parts of the U.S. federal government were shut down on Friday, January 19, after the temporary budget plan failed to pass in the Senate. The approval of this plan required 60 votes in the Senate. Over the past three days, intensive negotiations between Republican and Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate have been underway to end the current deadlock over federal government funding. After the Senate vote, Trump welcomed the Democrats' approach, stating: 'We will reach a long-term agreement on immigration, if and only if, such an agreement is good for the country.' Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, also stated that he expects Republicans to pay attention to Democrats' requests regarding the DACA plan in exchange for Democratic cooperation. Most Senate Democrats are calling for a legal status determination for immigrants under the program known as 'DACA.' DACA pertains to hundreds of thousands of individuals who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and are now on the verge of deportation from the United States. Trump recently ended this supportive program established during Barack Obama's presidency. Reuters reports that approximately 700,000 children were brought illegally from Mexico and Central American countries to the United States, and most of them have grown up in America.