The White House(WASHINGTON) — President Trump Tuesday morning touted his administration’s political victory on the spending bill in a ceremony originally scheduled to congratulate the Air Force Academy football team.
“After years of partisan bickering and gridlock, this bill is a clear win for the American people,” Trump said from the White House Rose Garden, with a group of Air Force cadets standing behind him.
“We brought lawmakers together from both sides of the aisle to deliver a budget that funds the rebuilding of the United States military, makes historic investments in border security and provides health care for our miners and school choice for our disadvantaged children,” Trump said of the government funding deal reached by Congress late Sunday night.
The $1 trillion spending bill, which will keep the government running through September, does not include funds for a border wall with Mexico, one of Trump’s key agenda items. But the bill does include a $15 billion increase in funding for the military and $1.5 billion more dedicated to border security.
“We achieved the single largest increase in border security, funding in 10 years. So we have more money now for the border than we’ve gotten in 10 years,” Trump said. “The Democrats didn’t tell you that.”
The House and Senate still need to vote on the bill.
Trump had earlier threatened to force a government shutdown, saying “our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!”
On Twitter Tuesday morning, Trump seemed dissatisfied with the deal, suggesting to end the legislative filibuster or force a government shutdown to “fix [the] mess.”
The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good “shutdown” in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Tuesday that the president’s tweets were to “drive home that this place, that Washington needs to be fixed.”
In the wake of the president’s comments, House Speaker Paul Ryan defended the government spending deal that was negotiated.
“Look, we have a long ways to go between now and September, but I share the president’s frustration,” Ryan said Tuesday in a press conference on Capitol Hill with other House GOP leaders. “I feel good about the wins we got with the administration in this bill.”
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