USA – Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a funding bill to end the historic 43-day government shutdown through end of January.

Trump accused Democrats of having attempted to “extort American taxpayers” during the shutdown, urging voters in next year’s midterm elections to “not forget this.”

“The extremists in the other party insisted on creating the longest government shutdown in American history, and they did it purely for political reasons,” he said at the White House as he signed the spending bill. “This is no way to run a country. I hope we can all agree that the government should never be shut down again.”

The president did not take questions from reporters who assembled in the Oval Office for the signing event but repeatedly sought to cast blame on Democrats, claiming the party “inflicted” the government closure, which he said resulted in “massive harm.”

During the shutdown, airline travel was significantly impaired with massive delays caused by staffing shortages among air traffic controllers, and food assistance programs were largely upended.

Trump’s signing came just hours after the US House of Representatives approved the bipartisan agreement in a 222-209 vote. The Senate on Monday approved the deal that ends the 43-day funding lapse and funds the government at previous levels though Jan. 30.

The legislation also incorporates three-year-long appropriations packages covering essential agencies and programs while reinstating federal employees who were fired by Trump during the shutdown.

The shutdown began Oct. 1 after a breakdown in negotiations on federal spending priorities. Thousands of federal workers have since been furloughed, or forced to work without pay, while many government services have been curtailed or suspended.

Democrats had sought to force Republicans into extending health care subsidies under the semi-universal health care law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a reversal to cuts to the Medicaid health care program for lower-income Americans that Trump and his congressional allies implemented earlier this year.

Neither goal was achieved during the shutdown, with Republicans agreeing only to hold a later vote in the Senate on ACA subsidies that expire at year’s end.

Trump said that he would be seeking to advance a new health care plan to replace the ACA, sometimes known as Obamacare after former President Barack Obama, but provided scant details.

“I’m calling today for insurance companies not to be paid, but for the money, this massive amount of money to be paid directly to the people of our country, so that they can buy their own health care, which will be far better and far less expensive than the disaster known as Obamacare,” he said.

“We’ll work on something having to do with health care. We can do a lot better. We can do great. So much money is involved, and we’re willing to pay so much money to the people,” he added.