President Donald Trump signed legislation on Thursday that will extend funding for a wide range of federal agencies through December 20 and avoid partial government shutdowns that otherwise would have begun on Friday. 

An administration official said Trump signed the bill that was approved by the Republican-led Senate earlier on Thursday by a vote of 74-20. The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed the measure on Tuesday by a vote of 231-192, with all but a dozen Republicans voting against the funding. 

The U.S. Congress did not complete action on appropriations before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, and it enacted a continuing resolution in September that kept the government open through November 21, which meant government funding would have expired  at midnight on Thursday. 

While Congress is supposed to complete a budget resolution to lay out fiscal principles and set an appropriations level, lawmakers have not adopted one, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog group. Congress should pass 12 annual spending bills to fund government agencies. 

But their work, already arduous, could be further complicated by the highly charged impeachment investigation against Trump that Democrats are running in the House. 

By December, the House could be in a full-blown debate over whether the Republican president should be removed from office. The House Intelligence Committee is probing whether Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden in return for a White House meeting or the release of U.S. security aid. 

Trump denies doing anything improper. 

It is possible the impeachment debate could be reaching a crescendo in the House just as the December 20 deadline is nearing and when federal funding would again expire unless Congress and Trump reach a deal. 

Much of the hang-up over the spending bills for the current fiscal year, which began on October 1, is over Trump's demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Trump made his pledge to build the wall a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign for president. Although he assured voters at the time that Mexico would pay for the construction,  Mexico has roundly refused. 

Having failed to persuade Congress to grant him the money for his border wall, Trump has used "emergency" authority to shift funding to the wall from various projects, raising the ire of Democrats. 

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)