Trump Signs Short-Term Funding Bill Averting Partial Shutdown
A funding extension to keep several federal agencies operating through Dec. 21 was signed into law by President Donald Trump, the White House announced Dec. 7.
The extension gives Congress several additional legislative days in which to try to achieve a compromise on key disagreements over border security funding levels during this lame-duck session.
Disputes regarding the Mexican border and the ongoing investigation into the 2016 presidential election have derailed negotiations between congressional appropriation leaders. Trump is insisting on having significant additional funding for a wall along the southern border, a move resisted by Democrats who will take control of the House in January.
President Donald Trump (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Pres)
“You’ve heard me say it over and over, left to their own devices, the appropriators can come to a good conclusion,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Dec. 6.
Funding authority was set to expire Dec. 7 for the U.S. Department of Transportation, and eight other federal departments, as well as agencies with jurisdiction over the country’s environmental and financial policies.
If the GOP-led Congress opts to take up House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2019 transportation funding legislation by the new deadline, policy having to do with the funding denial of certain requirements for electronic logging devices would advance.
