President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports, and generated long lines at some food banks.
Before signing the legislation, Trump said the government should never shut down again, adding, “This is no way to run a country.”
Trump’s signature draws to a close the second government shutdown he’s overseen in the White House, one that magnified the partisan divisions in Washington as his administration took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.
The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed the measure on a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate had already passed the measure on Monday.
Flight reductions at 40 major U.S. airports will remain at 6% instead of rising to 10% by the end of the week because more air traffic controllers are coming to work, officials said Wednesday.
The announcement was made as Congress took steps to end the longest government shutdown in history. Not long after, President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill to end the closure.
The flight cuts were implemented last week as more air traffic controllers were calling out of work, citing stress and the need to take on second jobs — leaving more control towers and facilities short-staffed. Air traffic controllers missed two paychecks during the impasse.
The Department of Transportation said the flight reduction decision was made on recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety team, after a “rapid decline” in controller callouts.
The 6% limit will stay in place while officials assess whether the air traffic system can safely return to normal operations, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, although he did not provide a timeline Wednesday.
“If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations,” Duffy said in a statement.
Delta struck an optimistic note about how much longer flight reductions would continue, saying in a statement that the airline looked forward to bringing its “operations back to full capacity over the next few days.”
Since the restrictions took effect last Friday, more than 10,100 flights have been canceled, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. The agency originally planned to ramp up flight cuts from 4% to 10% at the 40 airports.
The FAA said that worrisome safety data showed flight reductions were needed to ease pressure on the aviation system and help manage worsening staffing shortages at its air traffic control facilities as flight disruptions began to pile up.
Duffy has declined to share the specific safety data that prompted the flight cuts. But at a news conference Tuesday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, he cited reports of planes getting too close in the air, more runway incursions and pilot concerns about controllers’ responses.
The FAA’s list of 40 airports spans more than two dozen states and includes large hubs such as New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The order requires all commercial airlines to make cuts at those airports.
Airlines for America, the trade group of U.S. airlines, posted on social media that it was grateful for the funding bill. It said reopening the government would allow U.S. airlines to restore operations ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, which is in about two weeks.
How long it will take for the aviation system to stabilize is unclear. The flight restrictions upended airline operations in just a matter of days. Many planes were rerouted and aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Airlines for America said earlier Wednesday that there would be residual effects for days.
Eric Chaffee, a Case Western Reserve professor who studies risk management, says airlines face complex hurdles, including rebuilding flight schedules that were planned months in advance.
Airline and hotel trade groups had earlier urged the House to act quickly to end the shutdown, warning of potential holiday travel chaos.
Flight cuts disrupted other flights and crews, leading to more cancellations than the FAA required at first. The impact was worsened by unexpected controller shortages over the weekend and severe weather.
The CEO of the U.S. Travel Association said essential federal workers like air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers must be paid if “Congress ever goes down this foolish path again” and there is a shutdown.
“America cannot afford another self-inflicted crisis that threatens the systems millions rely on every day,” Geoff Freeman said in a statement.
President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports, and generated long lines at some food banks.
The shutdown magnified partisan divisions in Washington as Trump took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.
The Republican president blamed the situation on Democrats and suggested voters shouldn’t reward the party during next year’s midterm elections.
“So I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,” Trump said. “When we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they’ve done to our country.”
The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed the measure on a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate had already passed the measure on Monday.
Democrats wanted to extend an enhanced tax credit expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that priority. But Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time.
“We told you 43 days ago from bitter experience that government shutdowns don’t work,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “They never achieve the objective that you announce. And guess what? You haven’t achieved that objective yet, and you’re not going to.”
The frustration and pressures generated by the shutdown were reflected when lawmakers debated the spending measure on the House floor.
Republicans said Democrats sought to use the pain generated by the shutdown to prevail in a policy dispute.
“They knew it would cause pain, and they did it anyway,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
Democrats said Republicans raced to pass tax breaks earlier this year that they say mostly will benefit the wealthy. But the bill before the House on Wednesday “leaves families twisting in the wind with zero guarantee there will ever, ever be a vote to extend tax credits to help everyday people pay for their health care,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would not give up on the subsidy extension even if the vote did not go their way.
“This fight is not over,” Jeffries said. “We’re just getting started.”
The House had not been in legislative session since Sept. 19, when it passed a short-term measure to keep the government open when the new budget year began in October. Johnson sent lawmakers home after that vote and put the onus on the Senate to act, saying House Republicans had done their job.
The legislation is the result of a deal reached by eight senators who broke ranks with the Democrats after reaching the conclusion that Republicans would not budge on using a government funding bill to extend the health care tax credits.
The compromise funds three annual spending bills and extends the rest of the government funding through Jan. 30. Republicans promised to hold a vote by mid-December to extend the health care subsidies, but there is no guarantee of success.
The bill includes a reversal of the firing of federal workers by the Trump administration since the shutdown began. It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over. The bill for the Agriculture Department means people who rely on key food assistance programs will see those benefits funded without threat of interruption through the rest of the budget year.
The package includes $203.5 million to boost security for lawmakers and an additional $28 million for the security of Supreme Court justices.
Democrats also decried language in the bill that would allow senators to sue when a federal agency or employee searches their electronic records without notifying them, allowing for up to $500,000 in potential damages for each violation.
The language seems aimed at helping Republican senators pursue damages if their phone records were analyzed by the FBI as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The provisions drew criticism from Republicans as well. Johnson said he was “very angry about it.”
“That was dropped in at the last minute, and I did not appreciate that, nor did most of the House members,” Johnson said, promising a vote on the matter as early as next week.
The biggest point of contention, though, was the fate of the expiring enhanced tax credit that makes health insurance more affordable through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
“It’s a subsidy on top of a subsidy. Our friends added it during COVID,” Cole said. “COVID is over. They set a date certain that the subsidies would run out. They chose the date.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the enhanced tax credit was designed to give more people access to health care, and no Republican voted for it.
“All they have done is try to eliminate access to health care in our country. The country is catching on to them,” Pelosi said.
Without the enhanced tax credit, premiums on average will more than double for millions of Americans. More than 2 million people would lose health insurance coverage altogether next year, the Congressional Budget Office projected.
It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. Johnson has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax credits , as premiums will soar for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies. Some argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals rather than going directly to insurance companies.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Monday that she was supportive of extending the tax credits with changes, such as new income caps. Some Democrats have signaled they could be open to that idea.
House Democrats expressed great skepticism that the Senate effort would lead to a breakthrough.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans have wanted to repeal the health overhaul for the past 15 years. “That’s where they’re trying to go,” she said.
A federal court jury has awarded over $28 million to the family of a United Nations consultant who died in the crash of a Boeing 737 Max jetliner in Ethiopia more than six years ago.
The verdict was reached on Wednesday on behalf of the relatives of Shikha Garg after two hours of jury deliberation that capped a weeklong trial in Chicago, where Boeing used to have its headquarters. It was the first civil trial stemming from the March 2019 disaster that killed all 157 people on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
“We and the family are gratified by the jury’s verdict. It provides public accountability for Boeing’s wrongful conduct,” the family’s lawyers, Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford, said in a statement after the verdict was read in court.
Boeing will pay an additional $3.45 million to Garg’s husband, Soumya Bhattacharya, as part of a deal between him and the company reached outside of court. That, along with a 26% interest charge, brings the total amount Boeing will pay to Garg’s family to $35.8 million.
The aircraft maker has negotiated pre-trial settlements in most of the dozens of wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the crash and a similar 737 Max disaster five months earlier off the coast of Indonesia, although details of the settlements were confidential and not disclosed. Lawyers say less than a dozen lawsuits remain unresolved.
In a statement Won ednesday, Boeing apologized to all the victims’ families and said it respects their right to pursue their claims in court.
Jurors weren’t tasked with weighing the aircraft maker’s liability in the crash because Boeing has already accepted responsibility. Instead, they were asked to award damages for matters such as loss of income and grief suffered by Garg’s family.
Like a number of the other passengers, Garg, a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, was on her way to attend a U.N. environmental assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.
At trial, Specter painted a picture for the jury of a young and accomplished PhD candidate who was married just months before she boarded the fatal Ethiopian Airlines flight. A citizen of India, Garg wore on the flight a sari and held flower garlands in line with Indian tradition.
The then-new Boeing Max crashed minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. Specter called Garg’s death “senseless” and “preventable.”
Boeing lawyer Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney, urged jurors to focus on “fair and reasonable” compensation for Garg’s family. One contentious point was whether Garg suffered pain in her final moments before death, with Boeing arguing that the passengers didn’t experience physical injury before impact.
“There would not have been time for them to feel any physical pain when they hit the ground,” Webb said.
The payout awarded to Garg’s family by the jury includes $10 million for the “pain and suffering and emotional distress” she experienced before the crash, according to the family’s lawyers.
From nearly the moment pilots flying for Ethiopian Airlines took off in their new Boeing jetliner, they encountered problems with the plane. The pilots were bombarded by alarms for six minutes as they fought to fly the plane before entering a final nosedive at nearly 700 miles per hour.
Days later, all Max jets around the world were grounded. Flights resumed in December 2020, but Indonesia didn’t lift its ban on the Max for another year, and Ethiopian Airlines didn’t resume flying the plane until February 2022.
Amid the trial, a federal judge in Texas approved a Justice Department request to dismiss its long-running criminal case against Boeing in connection with the two 737 Max crashes. In exchange, Boeing says it will pay or invest an additional $1.1 billion toward fines, compensation for victims’ families, and internal safety and quality improvements.
U.S. prosecutors had charged the company with conspiracy to commit fraud, accusing it of deceiving government regulators about a flight-control system it developed for the 737 Max. In both crashes, the software had pitched the nose of the planes down repeatedly based on faulty readings from a single sensor.
QUESTIONS SWIRL OVER OCTOBER DATA
📊 Today's Market Snapshot (Wednesday, Nov 12):
• Dow: +327 points, closing above 48,000 (historic first!)
• Nasdaq: -0.3%
• S&P 500: Essentially flat
This divergence reveals a critical shift: Money is rotating OUT of expensive tech and INTO traditional economy stocks.
🔍 Three Key Developments:
1️⃣ Government Shutdown Day 43: Could end tonight with House vote at 7 PM ET. The funding bill would reopen the government through Jan 30. October's jobs report and inflation data may never be released because the government stopped collecting it.
2️⃣ Banks Hit Records: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and American Express all reached new highs. When financials outperform tech, it typically signals investor confidence in stronger economic growth ahead.
3️⃣ AI Reality Check: AMD soared 9% on CEO Lisa Su's projection of 35% annual revenue growth from AI chips. Yet Amazon and Tesla fell. Investors are becoming selective about AI investments rather than buying the entire sector.
💰 What This Means For Your Wallet:
This rotation from tech to financials/industrials is textbook late-cycle behavior. Action items:
• Consider taking profits in overweight tech positions
• Diversify into sectors benefiting from economic reopening
• Gold jumped 2.1% today on Fed rate cut expectations for December
• Good news: Lower mortgage rates are likely coming
• Bad news: Savings account yields will drop
📈 After-hours update: Cisco beat expectations on Q1 earnings, stock up 6% in extended trading.
The missing October economic data creates a blind spot for the Fed, but markets are betting on accommodation over caution.