The Latest: Shutdown should have minimal impact on economy

WASHINGTON (AP) " The Latest on the partial government shutdown (all times local):

3:40 p.m.

Economists believe the partial government shutdown will end up having only a minor impact on the overall economy as long as the government stays open.

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, says the impact should end up being "barely significant" with economic growth coming at a moderate 2 percent.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, says he looks for first-quarter growth to be around 2.3 percent, down slightly from the 2.5 percent forecast if the shutdown had not happened.

But Zandi says if the government shuts down again after the current stop-gap funding ends Feb. 15, then that could be "very hard on the economy" because it would shatter business and consumer confidence.

President Donald Trump has agreed to fund the government for three weeks while negotiations continue on his demand for money to build a border wall with Mexico.

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3:10 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will pass legislation on Friday that's intended to reopen the government after a record-long 35 day shutdown.

McConnell says he knows "the pain that this episode has caused" across the country. The Kentucky Republican says federal workers who have gone without pay "deserve this resolution."

President Donald Trump has agreed to a fund the government for three weeks, through Feb. 15. Negotiations continue on his demand for money to build a border wall with Mexico.

McConnell says he hopes there will be "good-faith negotiations" in the coming weeks to settle differences on border security.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats oppose the billions of dollars Trump wants to build the wall, but do agree on other ways to secure the border. He says that "bodes well for coming to an eventual agreement."

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2:50 p.m.

Congress is expected to quickly pass legislation that would temporarily reopen the government after President Donald Trump announced a deal to end the record 35-day partial federal shutdown.

The Senate is set to act first, with the House following later Friday. That's according to lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill.

Trump has agreed to a deal that will fund the government for three weeks, through Feb. 15, while negotiations continue on his demand for billions of dollars to build a long-promised border wall with Mexico.

The legislation set to be passed by Congress will include back pay for some 800,000 federal workers who've gone without their salaries during the shutdown. The shutdown has disrupted services and created hardship for many workers.

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2:45 p.m.

Even as President Donald Trump backs down and agrees to a short-term deal that reopens the government, he isn't giving up on his push for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

And on top of that, he's threatening to shut down the government again or use his presidential powers to address the border issue if he doesn't get what he's calling a "fair deal."

Trump says the border barrier he wants built isn't "medieval' and shouldn't be "controversial" because it will keep drugs and criminals from crossing into the United States.

He's calling it "smart" and "see-through" walls.

Trump has announced that the government " after a record 35-day partial shutdown " will temporarily reopen for a few weeks while he negotiates with Congress on his demand for billions of dollars to pay for a border wall.

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2:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he'll sign legislation shortly to reopen shuttered government departments for three weeks " until Feb. 15.

Trump's action would end what has become a record, 35-day partial shutdown.

Some 800,000 federal workers have had to work without pay or have been kept from doing their jobs as Trump and congressional Democrats were locked in a stalemate over the billions of dollars that Trump has demanded to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump spoke at the White House on Friday as intensifying delays at some of the nation's busiest airports and widespread disruptions brought new urgency to efforts to break the impasse.

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1:15 p.m.

The FBI director says the partial government shutdown is "mind-boggling, it's short-sighted, and it's unfair."

In a video message to employees posted on the FBI's website, Director Christopher Wray says he's "about as angry as I've been in a long, long time."

He says 100 percent of FBI employees are feeling financial strains from the shutdown.

Most agents in the field are working without pay and other employees are furloughed. He says he knows he can count on FBI agents to help people however they can, but he recognizes they have bills to pay.

Wray says FBI leadership should not be getting involved in political fights. But he says senior FBI officials have been advocating for employees behind the scenes

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11:45 a.m.

Fewer than half the furloughed IRS employees recalled during the shutdown to handle tax returns and taxpayers' questions and send out refunds, without pay, reported for work as of Tuesday, according to congressional and government aides.

About 30 percent of the 26,000 recalled workers have sought permission under their union contract to be absent from work, IRS officials told House committee staff in a briefing Thursday. The IRS employees' union contract allows them to be absent from work if they experience hardship during a shutdown.

The official start of the tax filing season comes Monday. The Trump administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time, and it reversed the policies of earlier presidents and made the money available to pay hundreds of hundreds of billions in refunds on time. The administration planned to eventually send about 46,000 furloughed IRS employees back to work. That's nearly 60 percent of the IRS workforce.

Of the 26,000 employees recalled, about 12,000 have come to work, the IRS officials said. Around 5,000 have claimed the hardship exception under the union contract and another 9,000 couldn't be reached by IRS managers.

"Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon

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10:45 a.m.

The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting delays in air travel because of a "slight increase in sick leave" at two East Coast air traffic control facilities.

FAA spokesman Gregory Martin says the FAA has augmented staffing, rerouted traffic and increased spacing between planes as needed.

The staffing problems were at air traffic centers in Jacksonville, Florida and a Washington D.C. center that controls high-altitude air traffic over seven states.

Martin says safety is being maintained during a period of "minimal impacts" on travel.

LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey are both experiencing delays in takeoffs.