WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending measure Friday, averting a midnight government shutdown just hours after declaring he was considering a veto.
Trump said he was very disappointed in the package, in part because it did not fully fund his plans for a border wall with Mexico and did not address some 700,000 Dreamer immigrants who are now protected from deportation under a program that he has moved to eliminate.
But Trump praised the increases the bill provides for military spending and said he had no choice but to fund our military
My highest duty is to keep America safe, he said.
The bill signing came a few hours after Trump created last-minute drama by saying in a tweet that he was considering a veto.
With Congress already on recess, and a government shutdown looming, he said that young immigrants now protected in the U.S. under Barack Obamas Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.
Trumps veto threat was at odds with top members of his administration and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had said Thursday that he was supportive of the measure. The White House also issued a formal statement of administration policy indicating Trump would sign the bill. Several advisers inside and outside the White House said they suspected the tweet was just Trump blowing off steam.
Finally, in madefor-TV scheduling, the White House announced a news conference. Telegraphing the outcome, an internal television feed advertised the event this way: President Trump Participates in a Bill Signing.
Asked why hed made the threat, Trump said hed looked very seriously at the veto, but because of the incredible gains that weve been able to make for the military that overrode any of our thinking.
The will-he, wont he episode came hours after the Senate early Friday morning passed the $1.3 trillion spending package aimed at keeping the government open past midnight.
Trump has been increasingly frustrated with the media coverage of the bill, as conservative Republican lawmakers and other critics have railed against it.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and a friend of the president, said in a tweet that the group would fully support a veto, adding that Congress should pass a short-term budget resolution while Trump and congressional leaders negotiate a better deal for the forgotten men and women of America.
