US President Donald Trump signed a bill today to fund the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and ending a fight in Congress that deeply divided opposition Democrats.
White House press secretary Harrison Fields wrote on X.com that Trump signed the bill into law today.
The law largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden's presidency. It cuts non-military spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increases military spending by about $1.700 billion, which, according to the AP, are marginal changes when talking about a total spending level of nearly $XNUMX trillion.
The Senate approved the bill Friday by a vote of 54 to 46, along party lines, with 10 Senate Democrats helping to push the bill through despite opposition from within their own party. The biggest opposition came from fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives, who urged them to reject the bill.
Senate Democrats have been arguing for days about whether to force a government shutdown (if funding is not approved), furious that House Republicans drafted and passed a spending bill without their input.
Democrats say the law cuts off healthcare, housing and other priorities and gives Trump wide latitude to redirect federal funding at a time when his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency are rapidly dismantling agencies and programs authorized by Congress.
Eventually, enough Democratic senators decided that shutting down the government would be even worse than allowing the funding bill to pass.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said a government shutdown would give the Trump administration the ability to declare entire agencies, programs and personnel nonessential, to send staff on forced leave without a promise they would ever be rehired.
Schumer said that a government shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk, who heads his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the ability to destroy government services at a much faster pace.
The passage of the funding bill in the lower house of Congress earlier this week was a victory for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to hold off Republicans and get the bill passed without Democratic support, something they have rarely managed to do in the past, AP writes.
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