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Michigan Leaders Respond To Govt. Shutdown Ending

(L to R) US Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI06), Rep. Dan Kildee (R-MI05)

Michigan’s federal leaders responded favorably to the end of the federal government shutdown. 

US Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) tweeted Friday afternoon after voting to reopen the government.

Her tweet read in part: "...we all support strong border security but President Trump needs to stop holding federal workers and their wages hostage.”

Representative Fred Upton (R) represents the 6th district of Michigan.

He tweeted in part “...it’s long past time to open our government again. Let’s hope we can put Humpty-dumpty together again in the next couple of weeks.”

Representative Dan Kildee (D) represents the 5th district of Michigan. His statement read in part:

“I am glad that the President will finally end this manufactured crisis that he himself created over a month ago. This government shutdown has inflicted so much pain on working families and our country’s economy, suffering that will live on long after the government is reopened. This was a completely manufactured crisis that should have never happened in the first place. Shutting down government should never be a negotiating tactic. Not then, not three weeks from now, not ever."

Submitting to mounting pressure and growing disruption, President Donald Trump agreed to a deal Friday to reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress give him money for his border wall before federal agencies get back to work.

Standing alone in the Rose Garden, Trump said he would sign legislation funding shuttered agencies until Feb. 15 and try again to persuade lawmakers to finance his long-sought wall. The deal he reached with congressional leaders contains no new money for the wall.

Trump's retreat came in the 35th day of the partial shutdown as intensifying delays at the nation's airports and a missed payday for hundreds of thousands of federal workers brought new urgency to efforts to resolve the standoff.

Trump still made the case for a border wall and maintained he might again shut down the government over it. Whatever negotiations restart next, Trump enters them from a weakened position. Recent polls found Trump bore the blame for the shutdown.

"If we don't get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on Feb. 15, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and Constitution of the United States to address this emergency," Trump said. He has been considering declaring a national emergency in order to fund the border wall unilaterally, a move that would almost certainly face legal hurdles.

He said a bipartisan committee of lawmakers would be formed to consider border spending before the new deadline.

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