Trump Calls for 2 Major Changes to Budget Process as He Signs $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill
President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Friday, averting a government shutdown and funding the government through September, but vowed never to sign such legislation again.
In remarks from the White House, the president called on Congress to make two fundamental changes so that in the future, the government does not have to be funded by — in a sense — paying off the opposing party. These changes are to give him the line-item veto and end the Senate’s filibuster rule.
“My highest duty is to keep America safe,” Trump said. “Therefore, as a matter of national security, I’ve signed this omnibus bill.”
“There are a lot of things that I’m unhappy about in this bill,” he added. “There are a lot of things that we shouldn’t have had in this bill, but we were, in a sense, forced — if we want to build our military — we were forced to have.”
Trump explained that for the last 8 years, deep cuts to the defense budget undermined the nation’s security by hollowing out the military’s readiness.
“So if we take something for the military, (the Democrats) want something for, in many cases things that are really a wasted sum of money,” he said.
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“To prevent the omnibus situation from ever happening again, I’m calling on Congress to give me a line-item veto for all government spending bills. And the Senate must end — they must end the filibuster rule and get down to work,” the president stated.
“We have to get rid of the filibuster rule and go to 51 votes in the Senate, if we’re going to have really sustained, continued success,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump had threatened to veto the omnibus bill because it did not fully fund his proposed southern border wall or address the status of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals recipients.
I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients 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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
During his remarks from the White House, Trump called out the Democrats for this omission from the legislation.
“I do want the Hispanic community to know and DACA recipients to know that Republicans are much more on your side than The Democrats who are using you for their own purposes,” the chief executive said.
.@POTUS: "I do want the Hispanic community to know and DACA recipients to know that Republicans are much more on your side than @TheDemocrats who are using you for their own purposes." pic.twitter.com/0W3J3kMXHv
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 23, 2018
The omnibus bill included $1.6 billion of the $25 billion the Trump administration is seeking to build a border wall. The president promised to make the most of the appropriation.
CNBC reported that the funding will go to improving surveillance technology, as well as strengthening and building upon existing border fencing, which has proven to be effective.
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