January 25, 2019

Trump Caves, Agrees to Short-Term Spending Bill to End Longest Shutdown in US History

The deal comes as a significant victory for Nancy Pelosi.

Michael Candelori/ZUMA

Facts matter: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Support our nonprofit reporting. Subscribe to our print magazine.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced that he has agreed to a short-term spending bill that would temporarily reopen the government and end the longest government shutdown in US history.

The announcement, which will fund the government until February 15, marks a badly needed breakthrough over Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion to build a border wall—an unprecedented impasse that left more than 800,000 federal workers furloughed or working without pay for 35 days. It marks a major victory for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has stood firm in her refusal to appropriate funding for the president’s wall demands.

The deal caps off an abysmal week for the White House, as recent polls showed Americans were increasingly blaming Trump for the shutdown. Adding fuel to the mounting frustration, several remarks made by high-level administration officials this week—including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ self-professed inability to “understand” why some federal workers were visiting food banks amid the shutdown—were roundly condemned as evidence that the president and his aides were oblivious to the financial struggles rendered by the shutdown.

The timing of the announcement on Friday also came on the same day that marked the second missed pay period for federal workers, and just hours after the Federal Aviation Administration announced a ground stoppage at one of the nation’s busiest airports due to significant staff shortages amid the shutdown.

We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

payment methods

We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate