Trump says he’s signed spending bill, reversing veto threat

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP speaks next to the $1.3 trillion spending bill H.R. 1625 in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday. / BLOOMBERG PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP speaks next to the $1.3 trillion spending bill H.R. 1625 in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday. / BLOOMBERG PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER

NEW YORK – President Donald Trump said he has signed a spending bill, the Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act, funding the federal government for the next six months, reversing a veto threat he made earlier Friday that shocked Washington after his administration had previously said he would approve the legislation.

Trump’s turnabout came after a meeting with Defense Secretary James Mattis, who advocated for the bill’s increases in defense spending and wanted the relative certainty of six months of assured funding.

“My highest duty is to keep America safe. Nothing more important,” Trump said at the White House. “But I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack F. Reed touted the bill as a success Thursday.

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“This bill is a negotiated product, but it provides essential resources to strengthen our economy and national defense,” Reed said in a statement. “It makes critical investments in education, housing, public safety, and cutting-edge research and development, as well as new job-training resources to help prepare workers for the jobs of today and tomorrow and grow the middle-class. It includes an additional $3.3 billion to help fight the opioid epidemic and boosts Pell Grants to help more working families pay for college.”

“We were also able to include new federal funds for transportation and community development projects in Rhode Island that will help keep our economy moving forward,” Reed continued. “And in an effort to help states safeguard our elections, we provided $380 million to help secure U.S. voting systems from cyberattacks.”

The Rhode Island Democrat also noted that the bill contained provisions that are specific and pivotal to federal funding in Rhode Island.

  • Rhode Island will receive more than $241 million in highway grants under the bill and $40 million in transit grants.
  • Reed highlighted details from the massive bill such as the $50 million in federal funding to reimburse more than a dozen airports nationwide for post-9/11 security upgrades made at the urging of the Transportation Security Administration.
  • He also noted that the bill’s additional funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Resolving Funds will help Rhode Island invest in water and sewer projects through the R.I. Infrastructure Bank.
  • Reed also noted that he secured additional funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to finalize a plan to create a permanent home for vessels and personnel at Naval Station Newport.
  • An expansion of funding for the Virginia and Columbia class submarine programs.

Barbara Fields, executive director of Rhode Island Housing, praised the bill on Friday.

“The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill approved yesterday is a step in the right direction and a win for our state,” said Fields in a statement. “The bill supports many of our priorities at RIHousing – increased spending on federal housing programs and expanded tax credits means that we can more effectively leverage private investment to continue building strong, vibrant communities. These investments will have a widespread economic impact on our communities as they create good-paying jobs and allow us to serve even more Rhode Islanders.”

The bill also included funding for Amtrak and its maintenance of the Northeast Corridor.

“Amtrak applauds Congress for providing increased funding for intercity passenger rail, including grants to Amtrak, in the Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill,” said Amtrak President & CEO Richard Anderson in a statement Thursday. “The increased NEC capital funding will allow us to address many important needs along the Corridor, and we look forward to working closely with the Department of Transportation on investing these funds to advance the most critical projects.”

The Coalition for the Northeast Corridor also applauded the funding increase, “The White House and Congress have taken an important step toward unlocking new sources of funding that will drive economic growth across the nation. Said Michael Friedberg, executive director of the Coalition for the Northeast Corridor, “Repairing the Northeast Corridor is a national priority and these funds will help vital projects get off the ground from D.C. to Boston,” he added.

The spending bill appeared to only be waiting for Trump’s signature when he tweeted Friday morning that he was “considering a VETO” because the bill does not fully fund a wall on the Mexican border or create a solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a program protecting some undocumented immigrants from deportation that Trump chose last year to end.

The veto threat injected chaos into what appeared to be the end of a protracted struggle to settle on a funding plan for the federal government. A month of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats culminated in a deal to raise defense and domestic spending following a bruising fight that triggered a shutdown in January.

Trump called it a “ridiculous situation” before handing over his podium to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to briefly discuss a trade deal with South Korea. Afterward, Trump said he wants the power to issue line-item vetoes on spending bills – a power many presidents have demanded, and that Congress has never granted – and that the Senate should eliminate the ability of a minority to filibuster legislation.

The federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.

Top administration officials including Vice President Mike Pence and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney gave assurances on Thursday that Trump would sign the bill, which cleared both chambers of Congress that day.

Trump said he had seriously considered vetoing the bill but “because of the incredible gains we’ve been able to make for the military that overrode any of our thinking.”

A veto would have almost certainly triggered a partial government shutdown, the third since the start of the year, since many lawmakers left Washington after the legislation won final passage. Funding for the federal government was set to run out at 12:01 a.m Saturday.

“We wanted to include DACA in this bill, but Democrats wouldn’t do that,” Trump said.

Congressional aides said that the White House had suggested a three-year extension of the DACA program in exchange for $25 billion in funding for the border wall, a proposal Democrats rejected. Democrats offered to provide the money but only if Trump agreed to provide DACA recipients with a path to U.S. citizenship, as he had in an earlier debate. The White House rejected the counteroffer.

Jennifer Epstein is a reporter for Bloomberg News. PBN contributed to this article.

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