Stopgap Spending Bill Signed Into Law Averting Government Shutdown

The stopgap spending bill has been signed into law by President Donald Trump, ensuring that the government will have funding through to December 11.

This averted the possibility of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year started on Thursday, October 1.

Although there was a brief lapse in the funding of the federal government as President Donald Trump signed the stopgap spending bill within the hour after the midnight deadline.

The government's funding had expired at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, but no government offices or services were shut down as Trump had immediately signed the bill as soon as he got back from a campaign rally in Minnesota.

Also, the stopgap spending bill had been approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was also expected to be signed into law by President Trump.

Although this temporary extension only sets the stage for the lame-duck session of Congress, the bill was still necessary because the GOP-controlled Senate has not acted on any of the 12 annual spending bills.

These spending bills fund the 30 per cent of the government's budget that is passed by Congress each year.

The passage of the bill into law was an accomplishment for the Congress, albeit only in small measure, as both parties are still locking horns over other issues such as reaching a bipartisan deal on a second stimulus package for Americans who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The stopgap spending bill probably had the least controversy over the other issues before the Congress despite its tight timing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreeing not to include controversial policy measures.

The 10 "no" votes in the 84-10 Senate vote of the bill came from Senate Republicans who were not willing to pass the legislation otherwise known as a continuing resolution.

A continuing resolution, however, is needed to keep the government afloat past an election that could change the balance of power in Washington.

Negotiations for the stopgap spending bill had also hit a snag when the Democrats had not wanted to accede to a request from the White House for a farm aid of $21 billion.

This, after President Trump, had announced at a campaign rally about a new relief for the farmers.

However, Pelosi and Mnuchin were able to hammer out a deal by pairing the funds for the Commodity Credit Corp. with new restrictions which is prohibiting any payments from going to fossil-fuel refiners or importers.

The Commodity Credit Corp. is a program in the Depression-era that is designed to stabilize farm incomes.

While the White House gets what it wants, the Democrats get funding for its priority, the nutrition programs which get an additional $8 billion funding with the stopgap spending bill.

The continuing resolution also extends funding of several other programs such as the highway and transit programs, flood insurance program, and extensions for a lot of health programs.

And, the stopgap bill spending will also fund the possible transition to a new administration should Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden win.

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