By Jordan Fabian – 09\/30\/15 08:19 PM EDT<\/p>\n
President Obama signed a stopgap spending bill Wednesday to avert a government shutdown, the White House said.<\/p>\n
Obama put his signature on the measure, which funds federal agencies through Dec. 11, just hours before a midnight deadline to keep the government open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith today\u2019s bipartisan vote, Congress has taken a step away from the brink,\u201d White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. \u201cBut the American people deserve far better than last-minute, short-term legislating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill is intended to buy more time for Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Boehner’s successer to reach a comprehensive, long-term budget pact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no reason that we should deny American families and businesses the certainty and support they need by kicking the can down the road again,\u201d Earnest said.<\/p>\n
Obama and GOP leaders got their wish in avoiding an immediate government shutdown, which conservative lawmakers had threatened in order to strip federal funding for Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n
The stopgap measure sailed through the Senate earlier Wednesday by a vote of 78-20. The House passed the bill, 227-151, with most Republicans voting against it, since it included money for Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n
But more obstacles stand in the way of a comprehensive budget deal this winter. Obama and Democrats are seeking to lift caps on domestic and defense spending put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act.<\/p>\n
While some Republicans have expressed interest in raising Pentagon spending, the party is almost unanimously opposed to boosting funding for domestic programs.<\/p>\n
The stopgap measure also provides emergency funds to fight wildfires and reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jordan Fabian – 09\/30\/15 08:19 PM EDT President Obama signed a stopgap spending bill Wednesday to avert a government shutdown, the White House said. Obama put his signature on the measure, which funds federal agencies through Dec. 11, just hours before a midnight deadline to keep the government open. \u201cWith today\u2019s bipartisan vote, Congress […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t