Comment on Trump signs short-term spending bill just ahead of shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a short-term spending bill Thursday to keep the government open through late December, staving off a shutdown that would have begun at midnight. Trump’s signature on the stop-gap spending bill came following Senate passage of the legislation on a bipartisan 74-20 vote. The House passed it earlier in the week in the midst of public impeachment hearings. Without the legislation, government funding would have expired Thursday at midnight, forcing multiple agencies to begin to close down operations and send federal workers home. The bill extends government funding through Dec.