In the wee hours of the morning, the House of Representatives voted to approve a major budget package following a brief, overnight government shutdown.

The $400 billion spending bill was sent to President Trump who signed it Friday morning, ending the brief shutdown.

The budget agreement will set spending for programs for the next two years — if they stick to it. Under the short-term agreement approved early Friday, the government is funded for another six weeks to give lawmakers time to craft a budget plan. If they don't have something long-term in place by then, the country could be in shutdown mode again in March.

The passage of the plan followed a dramatic night on Capitol Hill, where Democrats fought for some sort of promise for protections for Dreamers, the roughly 800,000 immigrants who were illegally brought into the U.S. as minors. Republicans had a problem with the amount of spending.

And while the Senate needed to move fast Thursday night to pass the package, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., effectively delayed the vote until after midnight, causing the government to briefly shut down – for the second time already this year.

Disagreements over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), led to a three-day government shutdown on Jan 20.

Fox News asked Marc Goldwein, senior policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget – a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that educates the public on fiscal policy issues – to explain a government shutdown, and he answered seven basic questions about the process that Americans should know.

A shutdown occurs when Congress and the president fail to sign into law 12 appropriations bills (which determine spending for specific government agencies) in order to continue providing funding for government operations.

How can you prevent a government shutdown?

To avoid a shutdown, members of Congress can give themselves an extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR). The temporary funding measure keeps the federal government open and allows lawmakers more time to negotiate the remaining appropriations bills.

“The bar for a CR is pretty low. You’re not agreeing to anything new politically; it’s a no-brainer,” Goldwein told Fox News.

That’s exactly how the government has been operating since Oct. 1.

Funding has been extended three times since then. The House and Senate approved a temporary spending bill on Jan 22, and Trump signed the measure to keep the government funded through Feb. 8.

How long does a government shutdown last?

As long as it takes. Congressional leaders from both parties have to reach an agreement to fund the government.

It usually takes a weekend for this to happen.

“We’re talking days or weeks – not months,” Goldwein said.

The federal government would be forced to shut down “nonessential services." Who would be affected?

"Essential staff at top level agencies would continue working, but most federal employees whose jobs aren’t vital would likely be sent home," Goldwein said.

For example, those who work at national parks, monuments and museums would be told to go home.

"It doesn’t feel awesome to be told you’re not an essential employee. It's a little demoralizing to go home because you’re not important," Goldwein added.

In the 2013 shutdown, roughly 850,000 employees were furloughed per day, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

But not everyone is required to take unpaid leave.

The president, presidential appointees and members of Congress are exempt. The Postal Service, the TSA and Air Traffic Control will also continue business as usual.

Americans will still be able to get their Social Security and Medicare benefits and food stamps. However, people expecting VA benefits, unemployment benefits, farm subsidies and tax refunds may experience delays.

Do federal employees still get paid?

Most likely. The problem: They're not sure when they'll get their money.

"Everyone loses from the government shutdown. An employee loses their paycheck at the time he or she needs it," Goldwein said. "Ultimately, we’re going to fund it anyway. It’s kind of silly."

Federal employees typically receive back pay shortly upon their return, though, Goldwein says, nothing is certain. Every agency has their own contingency plan in the event of a shutdown.

How many times has the government shut down?

The government has shut down 20 times since 1976, the year Congress introduced the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s research. Half of the shutdowns occurred over a weekend.

“Before 1980, the government didn’t really shut down,” Goldwein explained. “A lot of others were over the course of weekends. I call them ‘fake shutdowns.’”

Goldwein says there have really only been three significant government shutdowns in the history of the U.S.

Two occurred during the Clinton administration in the winter of 1995 to 1996. Former President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress were at odds and shut the government down for a total of 26 days, Goldwein said.

The third occurred during the Obama administration in 2013, when a stalemate between the House and Senate led to a 16-day hiatus.

How much money can the country lose during a shutdown?

The 16-day government shutdown in 2013 cost the country $24 billion of lost economic activity, according to an analysis from ratings agency Standard & Poor's.

"The payroll cost of furloughed employee salaries alone – that is, the lost productivity of furloughed workers – was $2.0 billion," the Office of Management and Budget reported in 2013.

Goldwein says shutdowns "waste money" more than they "cost money."

"We’re not going to spend more money. We’re just going to spend it on worse stuff," he explained. "Instead of paying employees to work, we’re paying them not to work."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Trump signs budget deal, bringing end to second gov’t shutdown of 2018

Washington, Feb 9 (EFE).- The president of the United States on Friday morning signed a combined funding and budget bill that was passed by Congress hours earlier and will increase federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, bringing an end to the second government shutdown this year.



Friday’s shutdown lasted just a few hours, while an earlier partial government shutdown in January was resolved after a three-day standoff.



“Just signed Bill. Our Military will now be stronger than ever before. We love and need our Military and gave them everything – and more. First time this has happened in a long time. Also means JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” Donald Trump wrote Friday morning on Twitter.



The legislative package assigns budget figures for the next two fiscal years but only funds the government until March 23. Lawmakers still need to work out a bipartisan spending plan covering the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.



While praising the military spending, Trump lamented that Republicans were forced to compromise due to their slim majority in the Senate, where the GOP holds 51 seats and the Democrats 49.



Until Trump signed the bill, which the Senate passed with a vote of 71-28 and the House of Representatives approved by a count of 240-186, federal agencies were technically without funding.



The bill passed in the House thanks to the support of 73 Democrats and despite opposition from 67 Republican deficit-hawks.



The Senate and House eventually approved the package early Friday after Republican Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky had filibustered the vote on Thursday.



The libertarian-leaning lawmaker said GOP lawmakers who had railed against deficit spending under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, suddenly were willing to increase spending by hundreds of billions of dollars now that a Republican is office.



He said their actions amounted to rank hypocrisy.



The funding and budget bill includes around $300 billion in extra spending for both military programs and domestic non-military programs such as health, infrastructure and disaster relief.



It also suspends the federal debt ceiling through March 1, 2019.

 But it does not include any solution for the so-called “Dreamers,” hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as children. </s> United States President Donald Trump on Friday signed a combined funding and budget bill that was passed by Congress hours earlier and will increase federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, bringing an end to the second government shutdown this year.Friday's shutdown lasted just a few hours, while an earlier partial government shutdown in January was resolved after a three-day standoff, Efe reported."Just signed Bill. Our Military will now be stronger than ever before. We love and need our Military and gave them everything - and more. First time this has happened in a long time. Also means JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" Donald Trump wrote Friday morning on Twitter.The legislative package assigns budget figures for the next two fiscal years but only funds the government until March 23. Lawmakers still need to work out a bipartisan spending plan covering the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.While praising the military spending, Trump lamented that Republicans were forced to compromise due to their slim majority in the Senate, where the GOP holds 51 seats and the Democrats 49.Until Trump signed the bill, which the Senate passed with a vote of 71-28 and the House of Representatives approved by a count of 240-186, federal agencies were technically without funding.The bill passed in the House thanks to the support of 73 Democrats and despite opposition from 67 Republican deficit-hawks.The Senate and House eventually approved the package early Friday after Republican Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky had filibustered the vote on Thursday.The libertarian-leaning lawmaker said GOP lawmakers who had railed against deficit spending under former President Barack Obama , a Democrat, suddenly were willing to increase spending by hundreds of billions of dollars now that a Republican is office.He said their actions amounted to rank hypocrisy.The funding and budget bill includes around $300 billion in extra spending for both military programs and domestic non-military programs such as health, infrastructure and disaster relief.It also suspends the federal debt ceiling through March 1, 2019.But it does not include any solution for the so-called "Dreamers," hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as children. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Nearly 700,000 employees could be sent home without pay

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are waking up in the US, unable to work because of a government shutdown.

The US Senate has failed to reach a temporary budget deal to keep it open.

Some employees will not be paid until the stalemate is resolved.

A vote will take place at noon in Washington (17:00 GMT) on whether to re-open government. Immigration remains one of the main sticking points between Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats have refused to back a temporary budget deal until their concerns on immigration reform are dealt with.

Essential federal services are still running across the country, but non-essential workers are not required to report to work.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Government workers on what happens during a shutdown

Why has the government shut down?

At midnight on Friday, lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill. The bill was not a plan for funding for the whole of 2018, but would have kept things running until the middle of next month.

Efforts to reach a compromise ahead of the working week failed in a rare Senate session late on Sunday.

A vote to end the shutdown was postponed until midday on Monday, meaning many federal government offices will not open as the shutdown enters its third day.

Under Senate rules, the bill needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Trump's shutdown voicemail

There are 50 Republican senators who are present and able to vote in the upper chamber on Monday, but at least 10 Democrats are needed to pass a budget.

Republican Senator John McCain is away from Washington to receive cancer treatment.

Democrats want President Trump to negotiate over immigration as part of a budget deal, but Republicans say no agreement is possible while federal government services are closed.

Republicans want funding for border security - including a proposed border wall with Mexico - and immigration reforms, as well as increased military spending.

On Saturday, Mr Trump said the "nuclear option" of a simple majority vote was necessary to end the impasse.

More on Trump's first year

What does a shutdown mean?

It means no pay for those federal employees who are "furloughed" - on unpaid leave - even though their workplaces are not open.

The last government shutdown was in 2013, and lasted for 16 days.

It cost the government $2bn in lost productivity and led to "significant negative effects on the economy", the OMB said at the time.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Free coffee for federal workers near the White House during the shutdown

After the 2013 shutdown, Congress passed a bill ensuring employees who were on unpaid leave received pay cheques for the time they missed. However, receiving pay is not guaranteed this time as Congress would have to approve it again.

The shutdown began on the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. His trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has also been called into question.

What's closed and what's open?

Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on Monday. Half of workers in the treasury, health, defence and transportation departments will also not be going to work.

But essential services that protect "life or human property" will continue, including national security, postal services, air traffic control, some medical services, disaster assistance, prisons, taxation and electricity generation.

And the Trump administration said it planned to keep national parks open - their closure in the 2013 shutdown provoked an angry public reaction.

However, many rangers and staffers will not go into work.

The Statue of Liberty was closed on Sunday but the governor of New York said he will use state funds to keep the historic landmark open from Monday.

However, Independence Hall which is home to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, will be closed along with other national landmarks.

The defence department issued guidance saying that all military active duty personnel will continue to work without pay.

Other closures include:

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will discontinue routine establishment inspections and other food safety activities during the shutdown

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will cease operations of disease prevention programs but will continue to respond to seasonal influenza outbreaks

Why can the two sides not agree?

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Americans are singularly unimpressed"

This is the first time a government shutdown has happened while one party, the Republicans, controls both Congress and the White House.

Friday's vote fell 50-49, far short of the 60 needed to advance the bill. This is due to a number of key disagreements.

Democrats have demanded protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children.

"I hope it is just a matter of hours or days. But we need to have a substantive answer, and the only person who can lead us to that is President Trump. This is his shutdown," Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told the CBS network on Saturday.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The missing - consequences of Trump's immigration crackdown

But Vice-President Mike Pence reiterated his party's stance in a speech to US troops in the Middle East on Sunday.

"We're not going to reopen negotiations on illegal immigration until they reopen the government and give you, our soldiers and your families, the benefits and wages you've earned," he said. </s> The United States House of Representatives has passed a budget deal early on Friday following approval by the Senate, thus putting an end to a brief government shutdown caused by a senator who delayed the bill so it would miss the funding deadline.

The lower chamber of Congress passed the measure in a 240-186 vote, with some Democratic Party members joining Republicans to pass the measure.

The $300-billion bill, which directs a funding increase for defense and domestic expenditures, was now set to head to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature, in order for the government's reopening to come into effect.

Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky had filibustered a resolution to avert the shutdown on Thursday, arguing that his party was becoming complicit in deficit spending and describing it as the very definition of hypocrisy. </s> The Latest on Congress and spending legislation (all times local):

 

8:40 a.m.

 

President Donald Trump has signed the budget deal.

 

Trump tweets, "Just signed Bill. Our Military will now be stronger than ever before. We love and need our Military and gave them everything - and more. First time this has happened in a long time. Also means JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!"

 

The House narrowly passed the budget accord in the pre-dawn hours, ending a brief government shutdown and clearing a path for huge spending increases for both the Pentagon and domestic programs.

 

Passage came over the objections Democratic leaders who demanded the promise of a vote to protect "Dreamer" immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.



___

 

5:30 a.m.

 

A band of tea party Republicans swung against the legislation as well, repelled by its spiraling spending levels.

 

The government shut down at midnight Thursday after Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul blocked plans for a quick Senate vote, blaming his fellow Republicans for being "complicit" in the looming return of trillion-dollar budget deficits.

 

__

 

1:50 a.m.

 

The Senate has passed a massive, bipartisan budget agreement and spending bill to reopen the shuttered federal government.

 

The bill now moves to the House.

 

Senators voted 71-28 to approve the deal, easily overcoming objections from Republican fiscal conservatives who say the bill marks a return to unchecked deficit spending.

 

The bill stalled in the Senate Thursday night when one of the opponents, Sen. Rand Paul, refused to allow a speedy vote.

 

Paul's protest forced Congress to miss a midnight deadline for passing a funding measure to keep the government operating. </s> US Senate set to vote on plan to reopen federal government

Washington DC, Jan 21 (EFE).- The leader of the Republican majority in the United States Senate announced Sunday that the chamber would vote at noon Monday on a bill to fund the government, which remained partially closed during the weekend, after the federal budget was not approved on Jan. 19.



The senators will vote on a bill to keep the Administration open until Feb. 8, Senator Mitch McConnell said.



The proposal would give Republicans and Democrats more time to negotiate the final budget for the 2018 fiscal year, although it is not clear that the 60 votes needed to approve that bill are guaranteed.



After McConnell’s announcement, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned they still have to reach an agreement on the way forward that is acceptable to both parties.



Before the plenary session of the Senate, McConnell tried to convince the Democratic opposition to support the bill by promising to push the debate on legislation to provide a solution to undocumented young immigrants who came to the US as children known as “dreamers”, if no agreement is reached before Feb. 8.



The Obama-era protection plan, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), protecting these young people from deportation will be phased out by Mar. 5, 2018.



Some 800,000, deemed “non-essential”, out of a total of 3.5 million public employees are affected by the partial government shutdown and will be furloughed until Congress reaches a budget agreement. </s> US Government shuts down for second time in 2018 as Congress misses deadline

The US Senate has approved a budget deal hours after the Government went into shutdown for the second time this year.

The Senate's passing of the budget and a stopgap funding package means the plan will now go to the House of Representatives, where politicians are divided along party lines and passage was uncertain.

The scrambling to secure a deal comes hours after the federal shutdown began, in an embarrassing setback for the Republican-controlled Congress.

A three-day shutdown of the federal government began last month on the anniversary of the inauguration of Republican President Donald Trump, who played little role in attempts by party leaders earlier this week to head it off and end months of fiscal squabbling.

House Republican leaders had offered assurances that the package would be approved, but so did Senate leaders and the critical midnight deadline, when current government funding authority expired, was still missed.

The reason for that was a nine-hour, on-again, off-again Senate floor speech by Kentucky Republican senator Rand Paul, who objected to deficit spending in the bill.

The unexpected turn of events dragged the Senate proceedings into the wee hours and underscored the persistent inability of Congress and Mr Trump to deal efficiently with Washington's most basic fiscal obligations of keeping the Government open.

The US Office of Personnel Management advised millions of federal employees shortly after midnight to check with their agencies about whether they should report to work on Friday.

If the House acts before daybreak to approve the package from the Senate, there would be no practical interruption in federal government business.

If it does not, the result would be an actual shutdown.

Mr Paul said during his marathon speech, which strained fellow senators' patience, that the two-year budget deal would "loot the Treasury".

The proposed bill would raise military and domestic spending by almost $US300 billion over the next two years.

With no offsets in the form of other spending cuts or new tax revenues, that additional spending would be financed by borrowed money.

The bill is also opposed by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi because Republican House leaders will not guarantee her that they will allow a debate later on about taking steps to protect about 700,000 "Dreamer" immigrants from deportation.

The budget bill would not only stave off a shutdown, but would extend the Government's debt ceiling until March 2019.

That step alone would help reduce uncertainty in the US financial markets. </s> US congressional talks yield deal to fund government through September

U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, a senior congressional aide said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

The House of Representatives and Senate must approve the deal before the end of Friday and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature to avoid the first government shutdown since 2013.

On Friday, congressional sources familiar with the negotiations said the deal could include an increase in defense spending for this year totaling around $15 billion. But details of the agreement that was struck over the weekend were not immediately available.

Democrats were pushing to protect funding for women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood and sought additional Medicaid money to help the poor in Puerto Rico get healthcare.

The House is likely to vote first, probably early in the week and send the measure to the Senate for approval before Friday's midnight deadline when existing funds expire.

Republicans who control Congress and opposition Democrats have been in intensive negotiations for weeks over the legislation that would provide around $1 trillion in Washington money for an array of federal programs, from airport and border security operations to soldiers' pay, medical research, foreign aid and domestic education programs.

If this deal passes Congress and the president signs it into law, as expected, it would mark the first significant bipartisan legislation passing Congress this year and since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Congress averted a U.S. government shutdown last Friday by voting for a stop-gap spending bill that gave lawmakers another week to work out federal spending over the final five months of the fiscal year.

Even with the new progress, lawmakers are running far behind schedule, as legislation funding government operations in fiscal year 2017 were supposed to have been completed by last Oct. 1.

Democrats backed Friday's stop-gap bill a day after House Republican leaders again put off a vote on major healthcare legislation sought by Trump and opposed by Democrats to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, after Republican moderates balked at provisions added to entice hard-line conservatives.

It was unclear whether Republicans might try this week to pass a healthcare bill in the House.

Trump earlier bowed to Democratic demands that the spending legislation for the rest of the fiscal year not include money to start building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border he said is needed to fight illegal immigration and stop drug smugglers.

The Trump administration also agreed to continue funding for a major component of Obamacare despite Republican vows to end the program.
A comprehensive budget deal is later passed by Congress in the early hours of the morning, and a Continuing Resolution is signed into law by President Trump that keeps the government open until March 23, 2018.