'Ridiculous Situation' Over: Trump Signs $1.3T Spending Bill

He said he felt he had to for the 'military,' but he's 'unhappy' about DACA and lack of funding for wall
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2018 1:11 PM CDT
Trump Signs $1.3T Spending Bill, but He's 'Unhappy'
President Trump walks past a copy of the $1.3 trillion spending bill after speaking in the White House in Washington on Friday.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

He sent DC into a tizzy Friday morning by threatening to veto the $1.3 trillion spending bill that was passed by Congress, but by early Friday afternoon, President Trump said he'd sign off on the omnibus initiative after all, per CBS News. At a White House press conference with Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary James Mattis by his side, Trump said although there was "nobody more disappointed than me" at the large monetary outlay needed for the bill, he felt compelled to pass it as a matter of national security. "We had no choice but to fund our military because we have to have by far the strongest military in the world," he said, per CNN, adding, " And this will be by far the strongest military that we've ever had."

He noted, however, that "there are a lot of things we shouldn't have had in this bill" and that "I will never sign a bill like this again." What Trump said he was particularly "unhappy" about in this "ridiculous situation": that his border wall wasn't fully funded (it got just $1.6 billion thrown its way for a down payment), and that DACA recipients weren't taken care of, per NBC News. Axios notes that although it was Trump who originally didn't sign bipartisan immigration legislation to save the DACA program, he slammed Democrats during the press conference. "Republicans are much more on your side than the Democrats, who are using you for their own purposes," he said to DACA recipients ostensibly listening in. Trump also said he wants Congress to give him a "line-item veto" for future spending bills, which the Supreme Court has previously found unconstitutional. (More President Trump stories.)

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