On Friday, President Donald Trump agreed to a deal with Congressional leaders to reopen the government for three weeks, ending the partial federal shutdown, which was the longest in the nation’s history.

As the shutdown appeared to be threatening the nation’s air traffic control and expanding into a larger mess, political pressure was on leaders to act.

As a result of the deal, the government will reopen, without the funding for a border wall Trump sought.

In the meantime, a bipartisan task force will work on Homeland Security funding and border issues.

As a demonstration in Ashland on Friday showed, the shutdown had all too real costs for the hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay.

It is our hope that leaders will be able to work out a sensible deal and pass a budget, so that the nation is not back in shutdown next month.

Workers who serve the public deserve better than to be used as hostages to a partisan agenda.