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WASHINGTON, DC – After 35 days of gridlock, President Trump announced that a deal had been reached late Friday afternoon to reopen the government by Monday morning.
The three week funding deal, originally proposed by Senators but rejected by Trump weeks ago, will allow the government to open until February 15th and will provide backpay to federal employees who have been without a paycheck since before Christmas.
No funding for the border wall will be included, even though it was Trump’s main reason for starting the shutdown over a month ago.
The three week window will allow for bipartisan negotiations around border funding. Trump warns that he will continue to demand money for his wall and will either shut down the government again or declare a national emergency if he doesn’t get it by the February 15th deadline.
The shutdown, the longest in US history, has cost the country over $13 billion, slowed the growth of the economy and forced hundreds of thousands of Americans to the brink of bankruptcy.