Trump signs spending bill to fund government

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Donald Trump on Saturday signed the government funding bill passed by the Senate on Friday. The bill was passed just hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a lapse in funding, which would have shut down the government.

The signing of the bill ended a week of drama on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, the House passed the legislation, which funds the government through Sept. 30, in a mostly party-line vote that reflected how Republican fiscal hawks have swallowed their concerns about spending in deference to Trump. The vote was 217-213, with only one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voting against the legislation. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted yes.

That sent the measure to the Senate, which spent the rest of the week deliberating whether to accept the Republican bill from the House, or send it back and shut down the government at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

The key vote came Friday afternoon, after days of Democratic agonizing that divided the party. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and nine other members of his caucus supplied the votes needed to effectively thwart a filibuster by their own party and prevent a shutdown.

The final vote to pass the spending measure and send it to Trump to sign was 54-46, nearly along party lines.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.