President Signs Interim Spending Bill

President Clinton on Saturday signed a stopgap spending bill providing money to keep government agencies operating through Nov. 13.

The measure, called a continuing resolution, was needed to avoid furloughs of an estimated 800,000 federal workers with the beginning of a new fiscal year Oct. 1 since none of the 13 separate appropriations bills to finance the government has been signed into law.

Such temporary year-end spending resolutions have become commonplace over the last decade, but the need for such a bill has drawn more attention this year because Republicans control Congress for the first time in 40 years and there is a Democrat in the White House after three consecutive Republican administrations.

Clinton signed the measure without fanfare late Saturday, along with some technical amendments to the truth in lending act and legislation authorizing continued U.S. participation in Mideast peace activities.