Federal Government Shutdown Ends After 16 Days

President Obama signed a bill into law early Oct. 17 to provide funding for the federal government for three months and increase the nation’s debt limit to a level that will last four months, ending the 16-day government shutdown.

Highway construction and safety programs had not shut down and both the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration remained at full staff levels.

But the government also suspended most economic indicators and the Department of Energy suspended its weekly fuel-price average surveys.

The shutdown also significantly reduced military freight hauled by trucking companies, which amounted to about $1.9 billion spent in 2012. American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves had warned that a prolonged shutdown could harm the trucking industry and the economy.

Disagreement between the House Republicans and Senate Democrats over Obama’s 2010 health-care law had led to the shutdown. But the agreement that both houses passed Oct. 17 left the law almost entirely intact, Bloomberg News reported.