US CIVIL servants urged Congress today to end budget bickering after a stopgap funding deal was passed last night.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers went back to work today after President Donald Trump ratified a Bill passed by the lower House of Representatives after 69 hours of deadlock.

But the temporary budget only funds the government until February 8, by when Congress must pass a full annual budget.

A compromise was reached when the Republican majority agreed to hurry up legislation to replace the previous Obama regime’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme, protecting about 680,000 people brought illegally to the US as children from deportation.

Last year, Mr Trump effectively gave Congress until March 5 to pass permanent legislation to replace the executive order. The minority Democrats wanted it to be extended.

Democrats were divided over yesterday’s deal, but their Senate leader Chuck Schumer backed it, saying: “Now there is a real pathway to get a Bill.”

Mr Trump tweeted: “I want a big win for everyone, including Republicans, Democrats and Daca, but especially for … border security,” referring to his planned border wall with Mexico.

American Federation of Government Employees president David Cox said Congress had merely “ended a crisis of its own making” after “forcing a shutdown” at midnight on Friday.

“None of this would have happened if lawmakers had done their job in the beginning and passed a federal budget on time,” he said.

He urged Capitol Hill and the White House “to come to the table, resolve their differences and pass a long-term budget so that federal employees can continue to do their jobs in service to our country.”