Trump signs massive spending bill, backing away from veto threat

Source: The Hill




BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/23/18 01:29 PM EDT

President Trump on Friday signed a massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, ending the uncertainty over whether he would force a government shutdown.

Trump made the announcement during an impromptu event at the White House where he highlighted the legislation's infusion of funds for the Pentagon in explaining why he was signing it.


"There are a lot of things I'm unhappy about with this bill," Trump said, arguing "nobody read" the bill. But he argued the defense spending and the need to take care of the military meant he had to sign it.

“As a matter of national security, I’ve signed this omnibus budget bill,” Trump said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/379956-trump-says-hell-sign-massive-spending-bill-backing-away-from-veto

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Trump to sign spending bill after earlier veto threat

Trump surprised Hill leaders by tweeting his displeasure with the spending bill's lack of full funding for his border wall and attention to Dreamers.

By ELANA SCHOR, BURGESS EVERETT, MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and RACHAEL BADE 03/23/2018 09:05 AM EDT Updated 03/23/2018 12:39 PM EDT

UPDATE 1:12 p.m.:

President Donald Trump told congressional leaders on Friday that he would sign the $1.3 trillion spending bill, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Trump earlier in the day raised the threat of a government shutdown by saying he was considering vetoing the legislation.

Trump surprised Hill leaders and some of his own senior aides by expressing in a tweet his displeasure with the spending bill's lack of full funding for his border wall and attention to undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. The tweet came after the White House on Thursday said he would sign the bill.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Just when Congress thought it had headed off a government shutdown, President Donald Trump yanked Washington right back to the brink.

In a Friday morning tweet that stunned even some of his closest advisers, Trump threatened “a VETO” of a $1.3 trillion spending bill that Congress had cleared just hours earlier.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/23/trump-threatens-to-veto-13-trillion-spending-bill-raising-risk-of-a-government-shutdown-482181