Spending Bill Expected to Be Signed by Trump After Brief Lapse in Funding -- 2nd Update
October 01 2020 - 12:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Kristina Peterson
WASHINGTON--The federal government's funding lapsed early
Thursday morning when President Trump missed a midnight deadline to
sign a new spending bill while traveling back from a campaign
rally.
Mr. Trump was expected to sign a short-term spending measure,
passed Wednesday evening by the Senate, when he returned from
Minnesota, ending the brief funding lapse. The stopgap spending
bill would fund the government through Dec. 11. Its current funding
expired at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
Because the bill had already been approved by both chambers of
Congress and was expected to be signed into law by Mr. Trump, no
government offices or services were expected to be significantly
shut down.
The stopgap spending measure, approved by the Senate in an 84-10
vote Wednesday evening, pushes the next funding deadline until
after the election, whose outcome will shape the political dynamics
of Congress and the White House at the year's end. Lawmakers have
said they hope to pass full-year spending bills in December, but
said it would depend on the political climate.
"I think we'll have a good opportunity to do it but a lot
depends on the attitude of Democrats and Republicans," Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) said
last week. "That's a worthy goal."
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate
Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday that he was committed to
producing bipartisan Senate appropriations bills before
mid-December.
Although its timing was tight, the spending bill became the
least controversial issue before Congress this month after House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin agreed to exclude any contentious policy measures.
"The last thing our country needs is a government shutdown in
the middle of a global pandemic and an unprecedented economic
crisis," Mr. Leahy said on the Senate floor.
All 10 no votes came from Senate Republicans, who balked at
passing the continuing resolution, or CR.
"Unfortunately, this CR is much more than a short-term spending
bill to bridge the gap which I am not willing to accept, so I voted
no," Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said on Twitter.
The bill hit a late snag when Democrats balked at a request from
the White House for $21 billion in farm aid after President Trump
announced new relief for farmers at a campaign rally. Mrs. Pelosi
and Mr. Mnuchin hashed out an agreement last week that paired the
funds for the Commodity Credit Corp., a Depression-era program
designed to stabilize farm incomes, with new restrictions
prohibiting any payments from going to fossil-fuel refiners or
importers. The deal also provides roughly $8 billion in additional
funding for nutrition programs, a Democratic priority.
"This victory for our Democratic priorities is a prelude to the
work we will do in negotiating full year appropriations bills that
invest for the children and for the people," House Appropriations
Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D., N.Y.) said in a statement
after the House passed the spending bill last week.
Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 01, 2020 00:35 ET (04:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.