Congress And President Narrowly Avoid Government Shutdown
Congress passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government funded at current levels through December 11, one month after the elections. President Trump signed the spending bill into law just after the midnight deadline on Wednesday.
Republicans and Democrats had been at odds over how long the stopgap spending bill should have provided funding for the government, with many Republicans wanting to have it last through the elections into December, while many Democrats had hoped for the bill to last until next year in hopes that the party could take back the Presidency and Senate.
The bill extends nearly $1.4 trillion in government funding until December 11, setting up another fight over spending between the two parties in December.
Notably, the bill prohibits providing financial assistance to oil refiners that were recently denied biofuel blending waivers for blending requirements under the RFS.
The Trump Administration had been working on a plan to provide financial assistance to those small refiners who were dealt a blow by the EPA when the agency denied their biofuel blending waivers under the RFS.
