President Barack Obama spoke to reporters, hours after the 16-day government shutdown caused "completely unnecessary damage on [the] economy," he said from the White House. The Senate voted 81-18 and the House of Representatives voted 285-144 to end the shutdown on Wednesday night, in time before the default deadline, NBC News reported.
President Obama credited "Democrats and responsible Republicans" for coming together to end the stalemate, encouraging lawmakers to focus on economic growth for Americans, rather than be influenced by external forces.
"These... threats to our economy have been lifted," Obama said. "If people object to some government policies, push to change it but don't break it. Let's work together [to make government better] "instead of treating it like an enemy."
The last minute deal on Wednesday night "offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another bitter budget fight and another government shutdown early next year," reported The Chicago Tribune.
Conservative Republicans, specifically in the House, hoped to delay or defund the president's key healthcare law, which led to the government shutdown. Democrats and many moderate Republicans objected to that initiative.
On Wednesday night, the conservatives merely received a small concession:"tighter income verification for people getting federal subsidies for insurance," NBC News reported.
Because of their behavior causing the shutdown and during it, Republicans eceived historical low approval ratings in U.S. history.
"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," said House Speaker John Boehner.
Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee for president, meanwhile said "people have been too traumatized" by the shutdown and the "damage" done will prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
"We may still have some gridlock," McCain said in an interview on CNN's "New Day." "Maybe we'll have continuing resolutions that -- we're not going to shut down the government again. I guarantee it," he said.
Now that the latest fiscal impasse was narrowly averted, Obama called for Congress to focus on the budget, immigration and farm legislation.
National parks, museums and monuments, including the Smithsonian, Lincoln Home National Historic Site and The Yosemite National Park for instance all reopened Thursday.
