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Trump Signs Temporary Spending Bill Averting US Government Shutdown

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a short-term spending bill to stop the US government from shutting down, buying the Trump administration more time to negotiate billions of dollars in funding for the US-Mexico border wall.
Sputnik

The short-term spending bill, which is also known as a continuing resolution, was signed by Trump just hours before a deadline that would have caused federal agencies to shut down.

However, the bill will only allow the government to continue running until December 20, after which the White House and Congress will have to reach a decision regarding government funding for construction of the border wall to avoid a government shutdown.

Trump's stop-gap spending bill comes after the US House of Representatives passed a temporary funding measure on Tuesday to keep the US government open for an additional month beyond the November 21 deadline.

Congress must pass 12 annual appropriations bills to fund US military and federal agencies. However, a partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress has prevented lawmakers from agreeing on the bills needed to fund the government in Fiscal Year 2020.

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