Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump signed a bill providing back pay to federal employees affected by the ongoing partial government shutdown, the White House announced Wednesday.

Trump signed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, which the White House said "requires the compensation of government employees for wages lost, work performed, or leave used during a lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018, and entitles excepted employees to use leave during a lapse in appropriations."

The workers will be paid after the shutdown is over.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, who sponsored the bill, tweeted that Trump signing the legislation "is an important step toward providing our civil servants with some stability and hope."

"But it doesn't help pay the bills *now.* To do that, we MUST reopen the government. #EndTheShutdown," added Cardin, whose state neighbors Washington and is home to many federal workers.

Read More </s> The Latest: Pelosi asks Trump to postpone State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local):

The State of the Union speech could become a casualty of the partial government shutdown after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Donald Trump to postpone his Jan. 29 address.

Pelosi is citing concerns about whether the hobbled government can provide adequate security, but Republicans are casting her move as a ploy to deny Trump the stage.

Pelosi says that with both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department entangled in the shutdown, the president should speak to Congress another time or he should deliver the address in writing.

Trump did not immediately respond to the request and the White House had yet to offer any official response hours later.

The House has passed a Democratic measure to reopen the government through Feb. 8 and provide $14 billion in emergency spending for recent hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters.

The bill was approved 237-187 on Wednesday, mostly along party lines, but appears dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate. The White House says President Donald Trump will veto the bill, calling it unacceptable without a broader agreement to address what Trump calls a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Some Republicans accused Democrats of politicizing disaster aid, noting that the bill put many GOP lawmakers who support Trump's proposed border wall in the position of voting against disaster aid for their own districts.

House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey said the bill would help families and communities recover from disasters while reopening the government.

The White House says President Donald Trump has signed a bill that will require some 800,000 federal employees to be compensated for wages lost or work performed during the partial government shutdown.

Wednesday's bill signing was closed to the media. The House and Senate had voted to give the workers back pay whenever the federal government reopens.

The shutdown is in its fourth week with no end in sight.

Federal employees received pay stubs with nothing but zeros on them last week. Some posted photos of their empty earnings statements on social media as a rallying cry to end the shutdown.

The shutdown has resulted from a dispute over border wall funding. Democrats remain opposed to Trump's demand for $5.7 billion. They say they'll discuss border security once the government reopens.

New lawmakers who attended a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House say the conversation was respectful, but none could name progress the talks made toward reopening shuttered government agencies.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips said Wednesday that the fact that lawmakers of both parties were sitting down and talking with Trump was progress in itself. And New York Democratic Rep. Max Rose said trust was built within members of the group. He said both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence "spent a lot of time" with the Democrats, calling the talks "very sensible discussions that involved listening and speaking."

Phillips said the group was not there to negotiate but "to better understand each other, which I think we did ... and perhaps provide a little bit of daylight through which we can walk."

Seven Democratic lawmakers, including newly elected freshmen, have arrived at the White House ready to ask President Donald Trump to reopen the government while talks continue over border security.

It's the first group of rank-and-file Democrats to meet with Trump during the shutdown, which stretched into its 26th day Wednesday. The White House has been trying to peel lawmakers away from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see), but invitations to Democrats earlier this week were declined.

Those arriving Wednesday for the midday meeting in the Situation Room included five freshmen, several of whom did not back Pelosi as speaker. They represent areas where Trump remains popular. They're from a bipartisan group called the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Ahead of the meeting they wrote there is "strong agreement that if we reopen the government, the possibility exists to work together and find common ground."

Trump is seeking $5.7 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, but Pelosi opposes the wall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is temporarily reopening an agency that provides resources to farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Wednesday the department has called back 2,500 employees to reopen Farm Service Agency offices on Thursday, Friday and next Tuesday to process existing farm loans and provide tax documents. The office will not process any new applications for loans or trade aid payments.

Perdue says the USDA is examining its "legal authorities" to ensure it's providing services to its customers during the partial government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history.

The USDA last week announced its feeding programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, will run through February. But if the shutdown extends into March funding will become uncertain.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked President Donald Trump to postpone his State of the Union address to the nation — set for Jan. 29 — until the government reopens.

The White House hasn't immediately responded to a request for comment about Pelosi's request, which she made in a letter to the president.

Pelosi says the partial shutdown is raising concerns about security preparations for the speech. The California Democrat notes that the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security have been without funding for almost four weeks.

The annual speech is perhaps the president's biggest opportunity to present his agenda directly to the public.

Pelosi writes that "given the security concerns and unless government reopens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after the government has re-opened."

She's also raising the possibility that Trump deliver the message in writing, as presidents once did.

Congress is planning to skip next week's planned recess if the partial government shutdown continues. And there's every indication it will drag on.

Neither side is showing signs of backing down.

President Donald Trump has told supporters in a conference call that the shutdown will continue, in his words, "for a long time" if it has to.

And Trump contends that people are impressed at how well the government is working.

Democrats remain opposed to Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. They say they'll discuss border security once the government has reopened.

An effort by the White House to divide House Democrats fizzled when centrist and freshmen Democrats didn't accept a White House invitation to lunch with Trump on Tuesday. </s> President Donald Trump questioned why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would receive a paycheck from the government after many federal workers missed their first paycheck Friday.

Many federal workers might have been wondering the same thing.

“Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

She did not respond to questions about whether she was accepting pay during the partial government shutdown, according to a Jan. 7 Washington Post article.

However, she was not among more than 70 members of Congress from both parties who have said they will refuse or donate their pay during the shutdown, accoridng to a CNN report Thursday.

Those members include Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Democratic Virginia Rep. Virginia Wexton, both freshmen, according to Fox Business.

Congressional leaders besides Pelosi also dodged questions about taking pay during the shutdown.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise did not reveal their plans to accept or refuse pay during the partial government shutdown as of Jan. 7, according to WaPo.

Trump has always donated his presidential salary, which is $400,000 a year, according to Business Insider.

For example, he has given his salary to the Department of Transportation to rebuild infrastructure and to the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the opioid crisis.

The shutdown affects roughly 800,000 federal employees, who missed their first paychecks Friday.

RELATED: Several Republican Senators Team Up with Democrats, Urge Trump To End Shutdown

A news release from the Senate Appropriations Committee estimated more than 420,000 essential federal employees would be expected to work without pay.

Some lawmakers have introduced legislation to change how future shutdowns affect lawmakers and federal employees.

For example, Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced a bill Thursday to withhold the pay of members of Congress during future government shutdowns.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </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> President Donald Trump said Friday he’s reached a deal to reopen the federal government after a month-long shutdown.

“I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,” Trump said in remarks from the Rose Garden.

“As everyone knows I have a very powerful alternative but I’m not going to use it at this time,” Trump said.

Sources told CNN the White House and congressional negotiators made an agreement to temporarily reopen the federal government while talks continue on a border wall.

The path included signing a stopgap funding measure that would fund the government through February 15. But sources said it would not include any new funding for Trump’s promised border wall, once an ironclad demand that led to the shuttering of government agencies over the past month.

Instead, lawmakers would return to negotiations over the money while federal workers return to their jobs.

Leading up to the remarks, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was in direct talks with the White House over finalizing the deal’s language, the people familiar with the matter said.

On Friday morning, issues remained over backpay provisions that any agreement would include, one source said. Federal workers have now gone for two pay periods without paychecks.

Once the measure is passed, lawmakers would have three weeks to reach an agreement that addresses Trump’s standing border wall funding request.

If they don’t reach a deal in that span, Trump is expected to say he’ll invoke a national emergency.

The sources cautioned that details remained are fluid and the final agreement could change.

Trump has faced increasing pressure to find a way out of the weeks-long border standoff, which on Friday led to widespread delays at East Coast airports. The pressure increased when two competing proposals to end the deadlock failed in the Senate on Thursday.

After those measures collapsed, Republican and Democratic leaders began frenzied negotiations to end the shutdown, which left 800,000 federal workers without another paycheck on Friday. That resulted in the three-week stopgap funding measure that would fund the government and allow workers to be paid. The White House expressed openness to the plan, but said it must include a “large down payment” for the President’s border wall.

The President has also not ruled out declaring a national emergency, and on Thursday repeatedly insisted he had many “alternatives” to securing border wall funding that did not involve Congress. CNN reported exclusively on Thursday that a national emergency proclamation had been drafted that would allow for potentially billions of federal dollars to be put toward wall construction.

Officials continue to say, however, that they prefer solving the dispute legislatively, and have remained in close negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have indicated that they are waiting to see what the President will accept as part of a short-term funding deal.

Trump said on Thursday he would accept such a measure only if it included a “prorated down payment” on the border wall. Neither he nor his aides have specified a dollar figure for the down payment.

Pressure to end the shutdown increased on Friday after air traffic was delayed at two New York-area airports — LaGuardia and Newark — in addition to Philadelphia International Airport due to staffing issues at a Federal Aviation Administration regional air traffic control center.

A day earlier, Republican lawmakers vented their frustration at Vice President Mike Pence during a tense lunch over a lack of a strategy out of the shutdown.

Administration officials have said as recently as this week that if the shutdown began to devastate air travel, they feared Republicans would jump ship and get on board with a short-term Democratic plan to reopen the government.

Outside political advisers to the President and his allies on Capitol Hill have also worried major flight issues would amplify the blame Trump its already facing for the shutdown. They, too, believe that major disruptions to air travel would ramp up pressure to reopen the government without wall funding.

One of Trump’s top allies, meanwhile, suggested the delays could shake loose a deal.

“I think the problems at the airport are a sign of things to come and I’ve been ready for weeks now to reopen the government and give us a chance without a shutdown hanging over us to reach a compromise,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters on Friday. </s> U.S. President Donald Trump has made good on a promise made earlier in the year and has frozen pay increases for federal workers, even as hundreds of thousands are left without paycheques due to a government shutdown.

READ MORE: U.S. government shutdown likely to go into second week

Trump signed an executive order Friday freezing pay for federal civilian workers in 2019. He had earlier said he would do so in August in a letter to Congress, saying the raise was “inappropriate.”

“We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,” Trump said in August. “I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.”

The order affects roughly two million civilian workers who would otherwise have received a 2.1 per cent increase in January. It also cancels an initiative that would have raised rates based on where the worker worked, which was scheduled to take effect in January.

WATCH: Donald Trump tells troops in Iraq he won them first pay raise in 10 years

The news comes as about 380,000 federal employees are on furlough and 420,000 are working without pay.

“This is just pouring salt into the wound,” Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement. “It is shocking that federal employees are taking yet another financial hit.”

The freeze does not affect the 2.6 per cent pay raise for U.S. troops that was part of a large defense spending bill Trump signed in August and will take effect next year. Trump recently boasted of the pay raise to the troops, though he said it would be a 10 per cent increase.

READ MORE: Donald Trump told troops he won them first pay raise in 10 years — that’s not true

There is still hope workers could receive a raise as part of a deal to end the government shutdown, if Congress approves it and it is signed by Trump. </s> More than 800,000 US federal workers are caught up in the escalating row between Donald Trump and Congress. President Trump is refusing to approve a funding budget unless his $5.7billion (£4.5billion) finance bill for a wall along the US-Mexico border is agreed. Building the wall was one of the US president’s key election pledges but Democrats are fiercely opposed to his plans. So far the partial shutdown has disrupted essential services including air travel, rubbish collection, and food safety checks.

How long has Trump's shutdown lasted so far? The US partial government shutdown moved into its 22nd day on Saturday, officially became the longest one in the country's history. Today's record beats the previous longest shutdown of 21 days from 1995 to 1996 when former US president Bill Clinton was in office. Mr Trump said yesterday the “easy solution” would be to call a national emergency before adding he wanted Congress to resolve the issue.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat Party member, said the US president would have to move first in ending the stalemate. The Democrats have threatened immediate legal action if Mr Trump declares a national emergency. What are the effects of the partial shutdown? Desperate workers have shared appeals online or have started selling their possessions after paychecks failed to materialise.

Vice President Mike Trump has promised employees will receive backdated pay with legislation passed in Congress once the government fully reopens. A quarter of US federal government workers have been impacted by the partial shutdown but employees deemed “essential” workers must continue to work without pay. They include prison guards, air traffic controllers and security staff, and enforcement workers such as FBI agents. Rising numbers of Transportation Security Administration employees at airports have begun calling in sick. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two measures to end the partial U.S. government shutdown - one backed by Republicans and one by Democrats - fell short in the Senate on Thursday as lawmakers explored other potential compromises to end a monthlong impasse with the White House.

A bill backed by Republican President Donald Trump to end the shutdown by funding the wall he wants to build on the U.S.-Mexico border and a separate bill supported by Democrats to re-open shuttered agencies without such funding did not get the votes required to advance in the 100-member chamber.

Several Republican senators voted with Democrats on their measure to temporarily re-open government agencies without money for Trump’s wall. They included freshman Senator Mitt Romney, his party’s 2012 presidential nominee.

But in the hours before the votes, signs emerged that lawmakers may consider new ideas for ending the 34-day shutdown, which was triggered by Trump’s demand for money to fund his long-promised wall.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is in regular contact with Trump, told reporters there were bipartisan efforts in the Senate to win the president’s backing for a three- to four-week government funding bill that would open shuttered agencies while border security negotiations take place. He urged Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, to back the efforts there.

Pelosi told reporters she was willing to meet with Trump to discuss the shutdown.

Her comments came one day after she essentially withdrew an invitation for Trump to give his State of the Union in the House chamber next Tuesday, saying that would not happen until the shutdown ended. Trump, who had planned to come despite the shutdown and considered giving the speech at another venue, conceded late on Wednesday and said he would deliver the speech in the House in the “near future.”

Trump wants $5.7 billion for a border barrier, opposed by Democrats, as part of any legislation to fund about a quarter of the federal government. That demand, and Democrats’ refusal to meet it, has led to the longest shutdown in U.S. history, leaving 800,000 federal workers, as well as private contractors, without pay and struggling to make ends meet, the effects on government services and the economy reverberating nationwide. </s> President Donald Trump has issued an executive order freezing pay for federal workers in 2019, blocking a 2.1 percent pay raise that was set to go into effect across the board in January.

Friday's order comes as some 800,000 federal employees remain furloughed or working without pay due to the partial government shutdown that is expected to continue into the new year.

The order, which overrides an automatic raise law, has been met with intense backlash from workers' advocates.

'This is just pouring salt into the wound,' Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union - which represents about 100,000 federal workers - said in a statement.

'It is shocking that federal employees are taking yet another financial hit. As if missed paychecks and working without pay were not enough, now they have been told that they don’t even deserve a modest pay increase.'

President Donald Trump on Friday issued an executive order freezing pay for 2.1 million federal workers in 2019, blocking a 2.1 percent pay raise that was set to go into effect across the board in January (file photo). The move comes as some 800,000 workers remain furloughed or working without pay as a result of the partial government shutdown that began last week

In addition to blocking the blanket raise, the order cancelled locality pay increases -paycheck adjustments made based on the region of the country where workers are posted.

However, the move will not affect a scheduled 2.6 percent pay raise for American troops that was passed as part of the massive defense spending bill Trump signed this fall.

Lawmakers could step in and include the scheduled raise in the 2019 spending bill, which is currently stalled over Trump's $5billion border wall demand.

Trump has been advocating the freeze since February - part of his long-proposed plan to shrink the federal government.

He announced his plan to scrap the 2019 pay increase in August, calling it 'inappropriate' in a letter to House and Senate leaders.

'We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,' Trump wrote.
President Donald Trump signs a bill which requires the government to compensate government employees after the shutdown is over for their work during the shutdown.