On The Money: Trump signs short-term spending bill to avoid shutdown | Pelosi casts doubt on USMCA deal in 2019 | California high court strikes down law targeting Trump tax returns

Happy Thursday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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THE BIG DEAL–Trump signs short-term spending bill to avert shutdown: President Trump on Thursday signed a funding stopgap measure just hours ahead of a shutdown deadline, extending funding levels from the last fiscal year until Dec. 20.

The measure, which passed in the Senate earlier Thursday and in the House on Tuesday, bought Congressional negotiators an additional four weeks to hammer out a deal on how to spend the agreed $1.37 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, and tackle thorny issues including Trump’s request to fund a border wall.

But behind the scenes, appropriators are far from sure they will be able to work out a deal in time, with many raising concerns that an additional stopgap measure could be necessary ahead of Christmas. The Hill’s Niv Elis tells us about the road ahead here.

LEADING THE DAY

Pelosi casts doubt on USMCA deal in 2019: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday cast doubt on the possibility of passing an updated North American trade deal by the end of 2019, a departure from her previous characterization of the deal as “imminent.”

“I’m not even sure if we came to an agreement today that it would be enough time to finish,” she said, referencing an end-of-year timeline many had hoped for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met with Pelosi and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) later on Thursday, but a final deal remained out of reach. The Hill’s Niv Elis fills us in here.

What comes next: Neal said that of five outstanding issues, they had reached an agreement on roughly half of them and would continue negotiations next week. He remained hopeful, however, that the deal could be finalized and signed into law before the New Year.

GOP not happy: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took a swipe at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for casting doubt on whether the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will pass before the end of the year, accusing the California Democrat of prioritizing impeachment over the updated North American trade deal.

California high court strikes down state law targeting Trump tax returns: California’s highest state court on Thursday struck down a law that would have required President Trump to hand over his tax returns as a condition to appearing on the state’s ballot for the Republican primary.

In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court held that key portions of the Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act, signed in July, violated the state’s constitution.

The law also requires gubernatorial candidates to disclose their tax returns for ballot access, but the California justices did not address that portion of the law. The Hill’s John Kruzel and Naomi Jagoda explain the ruling here.

And there were developments in the two tax return cases the Supreme Court is weighing whether to take up.

Read more: Manhattan DA asks Supreme Court to let them enforce subpoena for Trump tax returns

Read more: House Dems urge Supreme Court to allow subpoena for Trump’s financial records

Legislation on Libra: A pair of lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation that would place stringent government oversight on Facebook’s incoming digital currency and similar projects.

The bill from Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Lance Gooden (R-Texas) would place the Libra digital coin squarely under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction, a move that would subject the cryptocurrency to a set of extensive and well-established regulations.

Facebook has denied that the Libra coin is a security. But lawmakers have struggled to understand how to classify the ambitious Libra project because the U.S. government has not yet defined which federal agencies will be in charge of regulating cryptocurrencies.

More from The Hill’s Emily Birnbaum on the bill here.

Wasserman Schultz makes bid for House Appropriations Committee gavel: Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Thursday threw her hat in the ring to become the next chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

In October, the committee’s current chairwoman Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), 82, announced that she would retire at the end of the term, leaving open a race for one of the most coveted gavels in the Congress.

Expect a fight: Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, will face stiff competition.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the longest-serving female House member, has seniority on the committee, while Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), an ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who heads the subcommittee covering the largest non-defense spending bill, has also said she will seek the position. More from Niv here.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) introduced a bill Thursday to invest more than $102 billion in federal programs to reduce the national shortage of affordable housing.
• A top Democratic congresswoman on Thursday asked the Agriculture Department (USDA) to investigate and retract tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts with a Brazilian meatpacking company facing federal corruption charges.

ODDS AND ENDS

• The House Energy and Commerce committee announced a probe into Live Nation and other top online ticket sale companies on Thursday.
• A group of senators from both parties on Thursday urged the Trump administration to stop issuing licenses for U.S. companies to do business with Chinese telecom giant Huawei, warning that even limited business with Huawei could pose a national security risk.
• Office-sharing company WeWork announced Thursday it is laying off about 2,400 employees worldwide, as the company looks to cut costs and stabilize its business model.