(AFP) – President Donald Trump claimed victory Tuesday over rival Democrats on the longest-ever US government shutdown, in a speech at an annual ceremony honoring America’s military veterans. Trump seized on the fact that several Democratic senators broke ranks on Monday to vote with Republicans for a compromise deal that paves the way for an end to the congressional standoff.
“Congratulations… on a very big victory,” Trump said to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson when he spotted him in the audience at the Veterans Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. “We’re opening up our country — it should have never been closed,” added Trump. The shutdown has seen a million federal workers go unpaid, disrupted air travel ahead of the holiday season, and threatened food benefits to low-income households.
Eight Senate Democrats broke with their party to back a bill that would fund the government through January. It will now go to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, meaning the shutdown could end by Friday. But the move has split Democrats, with many senior figures saying they should have held out for the extension of health insurance subsidies that was at the heart of the shutdown battle. The rift comes just days after Democrats were celebrating victory in elections in three states that put Trump’s administration under pressure on the issue of the cost of living.
Trump said on Monday that he would abide by terms of the deal that would reverse the sacking of federal workers during the shutdown, which Democrats had insisted on. The 79-year-old Republican’s comments meanwhile showed him once again bucking a trend of US presidents historically avoiding politically partisan messages when addressing service members or commemorative events.
He went on to note that he plans to rename the November 11 Veterans Day holiday as “Victory Day” for World War I, and to do the same for May 8th in respect to World War II. Wearing a dark overcoat, burgundy scarf, and gloves, Trump earlier laid a wreath in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, the resting place of America’s war dead.
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