President Barack Obama tonight signed into a law one of the measures he's dismissed as a "piecemeal" approach to reopening the federal government.
In a brief statement, the White House said Obama signed "H.J. Res. 91," a bill that restores the $100,000 payments to the families of deceased current or former military members.
Obama had directed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday to accept an offer from a private foundation to handle the payments, which were suspended on Oct. 1 when parts of the government began being shut down.
The White House earlier today wouldn't say whether Obama would sign the legislation, which the Senate cleared Thursday.
White House press secretary Jay Carney blamed Republicans for the lapse in payments.
"These benefits were held up because Republicans wanted to defund Obamacare," Carney told reporters. "These benefits were held up because they wanted to get what they could not get through the legislative process, what they could not get from the Supreme Court of the United States, what they could not get in a national election for president."
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