Senate approves bill to avoid shutdown, sending it to Trump
WASHINGTON — By a sweeping bipartisan vote Wednesday, the Senate sent President Donald Trump a bill to fund the government through Dec. 11, averting the possibility of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year starts Thursday.
Trump was expected to sign the measure before Wednesday’s midnight deadline, although he was still flying back to Washington late after a campaign rally in Minnesota. The temporary extension will set the stage for a lame-duck session of Congress later this year, where the agenda will be largely determined by the outcome of the presidential election.
The measure would keep the government running through Dec. 11 and passed by a 84-10 vote. The House passed the bill last week.
The stopgap spending bill is required because the GOP-controlled Senate has not acted on any of the 12 annual spending bills that fund the 30% of the government’s budget that is passed by Congress each year. If Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House in November, it’s likely that another stopgap measure would fund the government into next year and that the next administration and Congress would deal with the leftover business.