President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed legislation to end the longest government shutdown in US history, bringing to a close a 43-day impasse that crippled Washington, halted public services, and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed the Senate-approved funding package earlier in the day, voting mostly along party lines to reopen key federal departments and agencies. The deal funds military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress through next fall, while other agencies will operate until the end of January.

Trump, flanked by Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office, signed the bill and took aim at Democrats, accusing them of political gamesmanship during the standoff.

“Today we are sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” he said, urging voters to remember the episode during next year’s midterm elections.

House Speaker Mike Johnson also blamed Democrats, saying they “knew that it would cause pain, and they did it anyway. The whole exercise was pointless. It was wrong and it was cruel.”

The shutdown, which began in late September, left about 670,000 federal employees furloughed and another 670,000 working without pay. The new deal restores all affected workers, including those fired during the impasse, and ensures they receive back pay. Air travel across the country, heavily disrupted due to unpaid airport staff, is expected to return to normal in the coming days.

Trump claimed Democrats had cost the country $1.5 trillion, though the Congressional Budget Office estimated the economic loss at around $14 billion in reduced growth.

Republicans, holding a narrow two-vote majority in the House, faced a difficult balancing act as Democrats accused Senate leaders of capitulating. Polls during the shutdown showed public sympathy largely on the Democrats’ side, but Republicans are being credited with emerging stronger after the compromise.

The deadlock began when Democrats refused to back a spending bill unless it included an extension of pandemic-era tax credits that made health insurance more affordable. After weeks of gridlock, a bipartisan group of Senate moderates struck a deal allowing a Senate vote on health care subsidies, though the measure has no guaranteed path forward in the House.

Democrats are now facing internal divisions, with some members expressing frustration over what they see as a retreat without major concessions. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries maintained that the party had succeeded in drawing national attention to what he called “the Republican health care crisis.”

But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is under fire from progressives for failing to hold his caucus together. Outside Congress, Democratic governors and potential 2028 presidential contenders sharply criticized the agreement.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the deal “pathetic,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker described it as “an empty promise,” and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg dismissed it as “a bad deal.”

With the government reopened and political fallout underway, both parties are now looking ahead to next year’s elections, where the shutdown’s impact is expected to remain a defining issue.