Nov. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a spending bill averting a a potential federal shutdown until December.
The measure will give Congress four extra weeks to produce a larger spending agreement, which has so far been hindered by disagreement over funding for the president’s border wall.
The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 74-20 earlier Thursday.
“If we don’t get it done and continue to slow-walk, we will be where we are today,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman of the Senate appropriations committee.
Shelby added that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin helped move negotiations along. The resolution was passed by the House Tuesday.
Lawmakers are still working on a bipartisan agreement involving 12 regular annual appropriations bills that are needed to fund the government. Congress passed a short-term extension at the end of September, which was set to expire at midnight Thursday.
Trump’s push for a new wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is the same issue that led to a 35-day federal shutdown late last year.
“The wall, I think, is the major impediment [to a spending agreement],” House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer said this week.
