Trump defended signing of the omnibus spending bill despite a last-minute veto threat, saying the package was needed to rebuild military and secure the border.
President Donald Trump defended Sunday his signing of the omnibus spending bill despite a last-minute veto threat, saying the $1.3 trillion package was needed to rebuild the military and secure the southwest border.
Tweeting from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the funding package makes the military “rich” and allows construction on his proposed border wall to begin, Trump said.
Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25,2018
Trump went on to address critics who accused him of signing a spending package that shortchanged his immigration and border security agenda. The $1.6 billion allotted for replacing existing barriers and adding some new fencing is “just a down payment,” he said.
Much can be done with the $1.6 Billion given to building and fixing the border wall. It is just a down payment. Work will start immediately. The rest of the money will come – and remember DACA, the Democrats abandoned you (but we will not)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25,2018
Trump reluctantly signed the omnibus package on Friday, hours after suggesting he would veto the bill over misgivings about lack of funding for the border wall. The president was hit with criticism from conservatives and immigration hawks, who said he caved to Democrats by signing a bill packed with liberal priorities.
At the White House, Trump was “very disappointed” in the package but had “no choice” to sign it because of its generous defense appropriations, he said. He slammed lawmakers for pushing through the 2,200-page bill at the last minute and promised he would “never sign another bill like this again.”
The bill raises defense spending by around $80 billion but otherwise does not advance many of Trump’s agenda items, particularly on immigration enforcement. The funding set aside for border barriers does not include construction of wall segments in the style of the prototypes being tested in California.
ALSO WATCH: Trump highlights from Congressional Republican Dinner 2018
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