The Latest: Trump signs spending bill that prevents shutdown


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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on efforts in Congress to repeal the health care law and agree on a spending bill to keep the government open (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

President Donald Trump has signed a short-term, stopgap spending bill keeping the government functioning and avoiding a shutdown on his 100th day in office.

Trump signed the bill in private Friday night after he returned to the White House from a daytrip to Atlanta.

The temporary spending bill keeps the government functioning through next Friday, May 6. It buys lawmakers time to wrap up negotiations on a larger, $1 trillion package to fund government operations through Sept. 30, the end of the government's 2017 budget year.

Both houses of Congress passed the weeklong measure with hours to spare before Friday's midnight deadline for some government operations to begin shutting down.

Lawmakers plan to pass the larger spending measure sometime next week.

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5 p.m.

Congress has taken the easy way out to keep the government open on the eve of Donald Trump's 100th day in office.

Lawmakers passed a weeklong stop-gap spending bill Friday that amounts to more of a defeat for the president than a victory.

Lawmakers cleared the measure easily with just hours to spare before the shutdown deadline at midnight. But with Trump marking his presidency's milestone Saturday, he did not wring any major legislation out of Congress.

The White House had pushed to revive the House GOP's health care bill in time for a vote that could have given Trump bragging rights. House leaders are still short of votes for the revised health bill.

Next week lawmakers plan to pass a $1 trillion package financing the government through Sept. 30.

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12:20 p.m.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers argues it's "past time" for Congress to forge a new war powers resolution that defines how American military power will be used against the Islamic State.

They say the U.S. has been battling the extremist group under an outdated war powers authorization that Congress approved in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reps. Jim McGovern is a Massachusetts Democrat, and Tom Cole is an Oklahoma Republican. They are among the 46 lawmakers who signed the letter sent Friday to House Speaker Paul Ryan.

They also say President Donald Trump must get approval from Congress before taking any further military action against Syria and the forces of President Bashar Assad. Trump ordered a cruise missile strike earlier this month against an air base in Syria.

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12:01 p.m.

Congress has sent President Donald Trump a short-term spending bill preventing a partial government shutdown on Saturday, his 100th day in office.

But lawmakers have failed to take action on two measures Trump would have loved to claim as victories.

Bipartisan talks are continuing over remaining issues in a $1 trillion measure financing federal agencies through Sept. 30. And House Republican leaders have given up trying to win enough votes to push a GOP health care overhaul through the House until at least next week.

The temporary spending bill will keep agency doors open for another week. The Senate sent the measure to Trump for his signature by voice vote after the House approved it easily on a 382-30 vote.

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11 a.m.

House members have easily voted to approve a short-term spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown at midnight.

The measure gives negotiators until next Friday to resolve final differences over a $1 trillion bill financing federal agencies through Sept. 30. That's the end of the current fiscal year.

While the vote was not over, the chamber was on track to overwhelmingly to approve the weeklong measure and send it to the Senate. Senators are expected to approve it and ship it to President Donald Trump for his signature in time for federal facilities to continue to operate.

Significantly, Congress did not vote Friday on a revised Republican health care bill that has stalled because it lacks needed votes. The White House was hoping the House would approve the bill by Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office.

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3:29 a.m.

President Donald Trump 100th day in office is coming Saturday. And he seems destined to serve it without House passage of a major Republican health care bill or enactment of a budget financing the government for the rest of this year.

But at least the government probably won't be shut down — for at least another week.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said late Friday that the House won't vote on a reworked health care overhaul until at least next week. Republicans fell short Thursday in their effort to round up enough GOP votes to pass it.

Final agreement has yet to be reached on a $1 trillion package financing the government for this year. So lawmakers have prepared a bill financing agencies for one week while talks continue.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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