Tania Carreon, a furloughed federal worker, protests in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. The White House's budget office says federal workers should expect to return to work Thursday morning. / AP Photo/Al Behrman
WASHINGTON The White House's budget office says federal workers should expect to return to work Thursday morning as the partial government shutdown comes to an end.
The House and Senate both passed a measure late Wednesday to reopen the government and avert a federal default.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said President Obama would sign the bill overnight. She was instructing federal employees to follow the news and to check the Office of Personnel Management's website for further updates about returning to work.
The measure restores government funding through Jan. 15 and extends the nation's borrowing authority through Feb. 7.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed since the shutdown started Oct. 1.
