Eight hundred thousand federal workers had been furloughed or forced to work for free for 35 days. The shutdown did nothing but hurt the people who weren't receiving their checks, who couldn't pay their bills, buy groceries, pay rent or mortgages or any other kind of necessity including purchasing medications for illnesses. The bill he signed today was the same one offered to him in December, with the exception that this one has no money attached to it to fund the wall. If the Republicans and Democrats do not  reach an agreement on wall money by the February deadline, of Feb.15th,, he indicated he was ready to renew the confrontation or declare a national emergency in order to bypass Congress altogether.