US President Donald Trump signed into law the funding package to reopen the federal government, officially ending the longest shutdown in American history, which lasted for a record 43 days. Speaking from the Oval Office during the signing ceremony on Wednesday (local time), Trump accused the Democrats of causing the prolonged impasse terming it an attempt to “extort US taxpayers”.

“For the past 43 days, Democrats in Congress shut down the government of the US in an attempt to extort American taxpayers for hundreds of billions of dollars for illegal aliens. Today, we’re sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” Trump said.