Obama signs payroll tax cut extension into law (AP)

US President Barack Obama signed into law a $1 trillion spending bill, averting a government shutdown, though fresh congressional gridlock looms in the 2012 election year over a payroll tax cut.The US Senate earlier passed the spending bill and a two-month payroll tax holiday extension, punting that problem down the road but not for long. Obama had initially sought a one-year extension for the tax cut and unemployment benefits.

Reuters - President Barack Obama signed into law a two-month payroll tax cut extension on Friday, capping a year of fierce partisan combat over taxes and spending that will resume in January and play heavily in the 2012 elections.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed expanded protections for domestic violence victims into law Thursday, renewing a measure credited with curbing attacks against women a year and a half after it lapsed amid partisan bickering. The revitalized Violence Against Women Act also marked an important win for gay rights advocates and Native Americans, who will see new protections under the law, and for Obama, whose attempts to push for a renewal failed last year after they became entangled in gender politics and the presidential election.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the agreement passed by Congress last week to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits while preventing a cut in payments to Medicare doctors.

AP - President Barack Obama has signed legislation extending a payroll tax cut for two months. The action concludes an end-of-year drama that split Republicans and threatened a tax hike on 160 million Americans.

US President Barack Obama Friday signed into law free trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, which were long delayed over implementation wrangles and political disputes in Washington.The president also signed an extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program which helps US workers who lose jobs to foreign competition, which he insisted upon before sending the deals to Congress for ratification.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a bill restoring unemployment benefits to more than two million Americans, following a bitter standoff with Republicans.Obama signed the bill in the Oval Office a few hours after it was sent to him by Congress, witnessed by a small group of news photographers.Republicans had repeatedly delayed votes on the bill with symbolic tests on other issues, including on permanently repealing the estate tax, and complained the Democratic approach to unemployment benefits would swell the US deficit.