House Approves One-week Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown; Senate Must Still Vote

WASHINGTON -- After a week of budgetary brinkmanship involving President Donald Trump’s border wall and GOP efforts to dismantle Obamacare, the House passed a one-week spending bill on Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.The spending measure must also be approved by the Senate to keep the federal lights on after midnight. The stopgap spending bill will expire on May 5, giving lawmakers more time to come to terms over remaining disagreements in a longer spending measure that funds the government through the fall.Though few expected lawmakers to risk a government shutdown, the House vote comes after a week filled with Washington theatrics. Earlier this week, Trump backed down from attempts to include border wall funding in the stopgap spending bill, just days after the White House floated the idea of a “dollar for dollar” deal with Democrats over billions in border wall funding in exchange for continuing Obamacare insurance subsidies.  Continue reading...