Trump signs massive spending bill, backing away from veto threat

Full Speech: https://www.c-span.org/video/?443026-1/president-trump-signs-omnibus-spending-bill-veto-threat

Story by The Hill
Written by Jordan Fabian

Full Speech: https://www.c-span.org/video/?443026-1/president-trump-signs-omnibus-spending-bill-veto-threat

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.
“There are a lot of things that we shouldn't have had in this bill, but were in a sense forced to if we want to build our military,” he added.

Trump, who has frequently been frustrated in working with Congress on spending bills and has surprised Democrats and Republicans alike with some of his tactics, vowed that he would not sign a similar bill going forward.

“I say to Congress, I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said. “I'm not going to do it again. Nobody read it. It's only hours old. Some people don't even know what’s in it.”

The president called on Congress for a line item veto for all government spending rules and called on the Senate to end its filibuster rule to make it easier to implement the Republican agenda.

The decision to sign the bill came just hours after Trump threatened to veto the measure because it did not funding for his border wall or a fix for young immigrants, undercutting guarantees from his own staff who said he would sign it all along.

If Trump had vetoed the bill, it would almost certainly have led to a government shutdown at midnight.

Conservatives have ripped the legislation for adding to the debt. They have also criticized a process that saw lawmakers approve the bill within 24 hours of its release — a timeline that left little time to read the bill.

A White House official earlier on Friday said Trump would sign the bill and told The Hill that the president wanted to add some "drama" to the day.

Trump's veto threat had sent Washington into a frenzy.

Some of Trump's own staff members were taken by surprise and the morning was dominated by speculation on cable news and social media over whether the president would sign the funding measure.
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Full Speech: https://www.c-span.org/video/?443026-1/president-trump-signs-omnibus-spending-bill-veto-threat