Obama Signs Short-Term Funding Deal

President Barack Obama last week signed a measure to fund the federal government at fiscal year 2015 levels through Dec. 11, thereby averting a government shutdown.

The measure easily passed the Senate by a 78 to 20 vote and the House by a vote of 277 to 151. The funding provision was part of H.R. 719, a transportation bill.

The president and lawmakers now have 10 weeks to avoid a shutdown and work out a longer-term budget deal through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2016.

In event of a shutdown, an FDA contingency plan provided for limited activities related to user fee-funded programs. The agency also would have maintained certain critical activities, such as emergency consumer protection, enacting high-risk recalls, civil and criminal investigations and import entry review. — Kellen Owings