U.S. Congress approves bill to end gov't shutdown

The U.S. Congress on Monday approved a stopgap spending bill to end a three-day government shutdown, sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Clouds are reflected in the U.S. Capitol reflecting pool at daybreak in Washington, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. [Photo: AP/J. David Ake]

By a vote of 266-150, the House of Representatives approved the bill to reopen the federal government and extend funding through Feb. 8, hours after the Senate cleared the legislation.

Trump is expected to sign the bill Monday evening, allowing the government to completely reopen on Tuesday.

The current government funding expired midnight on Friday as the Senate failed to advance a stopgap spending bill, which had passed the House of Representatives and would fund the government through Feb. 16.

Democrats had hoped that they could use the government spending as leverage to pass an immigration bill, while Republicans and the Trump administration insisted that they would not negotiate on immigration until Democrats give them enough votes to reopen the government.

The impasse broke after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reached a deal over immigration Monday morning. McConnell assured that the Senate will take up an immigration bill next month to consider protections for young immigrants brought to the United States as children, known as "Dreamers."

"After several discussions, offers and counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement. We will vote today to reopen the government to continue negotiating a global agreement," Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Trump said Monday in a statement that his administration will work towards "solving the problem of very unfair, illegal immigration" once the government is funded.

"We will make a long-term deal on immigration if and only if it's good for our country," he said.

The three-day shutdown, the first since 2013, cast a shadow over the first anniversary of Trump's presidential inauguration on Saturday and forced him to cancel a planned weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in the state of Florida.

But Trump still plans to travel to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week if the government reopens as expected, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier on Monday.

"If all things go as expected this afternoon with the reopening of the government, which we expect that they will, the president's delegation will leave tomorrow and the president will continue on his trip later in the week," Sanders said at a regular press briefing.