WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump declared victory on Tuesday as an effort to end the longest-ever US government shutdown headed to a final vote and rival Democrats tore themselves apart over the deal.
The House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday on a spending bill to solve the six-week standoff, after eight Democrats broke ranks in the Senate on Monday to side with Trump's Republicans.
During a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Trump broke off to congratulate Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
"Congratulations to you and to John and to everybody on a very big victory," Trump said as he spotted Johnson in the audience.
"We're opening up our country -- it should have never been closed," added Trump, bucking US presidential tradition by using a ceremonial event to score political points.
Trump said later he expected the Republican-controlled House to approve the bill to fund the government through January. "Only people that hate our country want to see it not open," he told ESPN.
Top Democrats have vowed to oppose the bill to fund the government but it is likely to pass the House as it only needs a simple majority, which Republicans narrowly have.
From the start, Trump had piled pressure on Democrats by letting the shutdown be as punishing as possible and refusing to negotiate on their demands on health insurance.
A million federal workers went unpaid, food benefits for low-income Americans came under threat and air travelers faced thousands of cancelations and delays ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Tuesday that the chaos could get worse by the weekend if the shutdown persists, with air traffic controllers unable to be paid.
"You're going to have airlines that make serious calculations about whether they continue to fly, full stop," Duffy told reporters at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
Polls have shown that voters increasingly blamed Trump's party as the shutdown dragged on past its 40th day.
But it was the Democrats who caved and gave Republicans the extra votes they needed under Senate rules on Monday, without securing the concessions they wanted.