Obama Signs Short-Term Spending Bill That Kills LEAP Program

President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation that funds the federal government through the middle of March, averting a threatened government shutdown but cutting several programs, including the $64 million Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program, which provides federal matching funds to states that provide need-based financial aid to students. The measure also cuts $129 million in earmarked funds distributed in 2010 through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. But it does no damage to the Pell Grant Program.