Senate passes stopgap spending bill, averting shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican-held Senate has passed a temporary government-wide spending bill that would keep federal agencies up and running through Dec. 20 and avert a government shutdown after midnight Thursday.

The spending bill, passed by a 74-20 vote, would keep federal the government open for another month in hopes the additional time will help negotiators wrap up more than $1.4 trillion in unfinished appropriations bills.

The measure now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The stopgap spending bill would give negotiators four more weeks to try to break an impasse involving funding for Trump's border wall project. That issue has gridlocked progress on the 12 appropriations measures that fund about one-third of the government every year.

Talks on the broader full-year appropriations bills have hit a rough patch.