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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon signed an ostentatious package to reopen the government.
"I'm thrilled to sign the Consolidated Appropriations Act to immediately reopen the federal government and fund the vast majority of operations through the rest of the fiscal year," the President said in the Oval Office. Trump's signature ended the partial government shutdown after three days and funds a number of critical departments, but creates another funding cliff for the Department of Homeland Security in two weeks, CNN reported. The US House passed a set of spending bills Tuesday (local time) that aimed to end the partial government shutdown while buying time for bipartisan talks over new accountability measures for ICE, asper Washington Post. If failed to reach consensus in time, the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- would have shut down on February 14. ICE operations and the agency's other immigration efforts were sustaining on the $170 billion appropriated for Homeland Security under the Republican tax and spending law passed last year, as per The Washington Post. "ICE and the Department of Homeland Security need to dramatically change," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told reporters Monday. "And absent that, then a full-year appropriations bill is in deep trouble." The vote was 217-214. House Democrats pledged not to help House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) kick off the process of considering the legislation, though 21 voted for the final bill Tuesday afternoon. Twenty-one Republicans, meanwhile, voted no, as per Washington Post. Trump later praised Johnson for his work in the bill signing, "Speaker Mike Johnson's done an incredible job. Done really an incredible job and we appreciate it," he went on to say. "I'm happy to report Republicans got the job done," Johnson said Tuesday afternoon. He added that leaders hope they can avoid a DHS shutdown next week, and highlighted the agency's other functions besides immigration, as per Washington Post. "This is no time to play games with that funding. We hope that they will operate in good faith over the next 10 days as we negotiate this." (ANI)
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