President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.
Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said in a post on X that Trump signed the continuing resolution Saturday.
The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, though with changes. It trims non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increases defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.
The Senate cleared the legislation on Friday in a 54-46 party-line vote, with 10 members of the Senate Democratic caucus helping the bill advance to passage despite opposition from within their party — most vocally from colleagues in the House, who exhorted them to reject the bill out of hand.
Senate Democrats argued for days over whether to force a shutdown, livid that Republicans in the House had drafted and passed the spending measure without their input. Democrats said the legislation shortchanges health care, housing, and other priorities and gives Trump wide leeway to redirect federal spending even as his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency rapidly dismantle congressionally approved agencies and programs.
In the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse than letting the funding bill pass.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a shutdown would have allowed the Trump administration to deem whole agencies, programs, and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.
“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
The funding bill's passage through the House earlier in the week was a victory for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to hold Republicans together and muscle the bill to passage without support from Democrats—something they’ve rarely been able to achieve in the past.
Americans are working shorter days compared to two years ago, Bloomberg reports, citing data from ActivTrak. While the average day wraps up at 4:39 p.m. – 36 minutes earlier – productivity is up by 2%, with employees working in focused 24-minute bursts. Weekend work is also becoming more popular as many welcome the flexibility to finish tasks later. ActivTrak recommends companies balance productivity with employee well-being as work habits continue to shift post-pandemic.
Half-past four is the new five o'clock.
That's according to exclusive data from ActivTrak that analyzed the workplace behaviors of more than 200,000 employees across 777 companies.
The average American workday now concludes at 4:39 p.m., a notable 36 minutes earlier than it did just two years ago when the clock-out time hovered around 5:21 p.m., my colleague Nibras Suliman reports.
Our days might be shorter, but they're more efficient thanks to longer bursts of productivity, said ActivTrak's Gabriela Mauch. In other words, we're working smarter.
At least most of us are: The share of employees who worked on the weekend increased, particularly at larger companies. That might be because some of us don’t mind kicking off early on Friday and saving a few things for the weekend. (I am not one of those people.)
We acknowledge the elevated risks currently seen in the market and advocate for adding resilience to portfolios through geographic and asset diversification.
Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against loss.