President Trump threatened to veto the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill Friday, saying it didn’t do enough on immigration — and raising the specter of another government shutdown.
Mr. Trump must sign the bill before midnight Friday, which is when current funding lapses.
The White House had promised this week that he backed the bill and would sign it, calling it a “victory” for his priorities. The president himself complained about “waste” within the bill, but said it was the price he had to pay to get a massive boost in Pentagon spending and the beginnings of funding for a border wall.
On Friday, though, he signaled he wasn’t upset about what was in the bill as much as what was left out — protections for illegal immigrant “Dreamers” here under the Obama-era DACA program.
“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,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
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
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Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Mr. Trump’s veto would be upending a deal that the White House had touted as a win.
“Now the President threatens to abandon $700 billion for the troops, and health care for 7 million veterans, for his misbegotten border wall that he said Mexico would pay for. That is NOT Making America Great Again,” Mr Leahy said in a statement.
SEE ALSO: Congress passes $1.3 trillion spending bill
The spending bill includes $1.6 billion for border security enhancements, with most of that going to new fencing. But just 33 more miles of the 2,000-mile border will gain barriers under the bill — and Mr. Trump is specifically barred from building a concrete wall-style barrier.
The White House says it also made a number of offers for granting protections to Dreamers. One offer included a full $25 billion in funding for the wall in exchange for permanent protections for DACA recipients.
Officials said they also offered a three-for-three plan, which would have included three years’ worth of wall funding in exchange for another three years’ operations of DACA. That offer came despite the White House just days earlier insisting it wouldn’t accept such a plan.
Marc Short, the White House’s chief liaison to Congress, said Thursday that Democrats proved they didn’t want to help Dreamers by rejecting the offers.
“The Democrats have shut down each and every one of those conversations throughout the omnibus, because they appreciate this is a political weapon,” he said. “They do not want a solution to this problem.”
Democrats, though, say they thought they had several deals with Mr. Trump earlier this year to grant protections to millions of illegal immigrants in exchange for various amounts of wall money, but said every time the president pulled away. They said he became an unreliable negotiating partner.
Democratic leaders also seemed stunned by how many victories they notched in the spending bill, which funds the government for the rest of fiscal year 2018.
“It’s a funny thing,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “We’re able to accomplish more in the minority than we were when we had the presidency or even were in the majority.”
Congress has already left for a two-week spring break, and many members have departed on flights for work junkets overseas, making it unlikely Capitol Hill could pass a new bill before the midnightshutdown deadline, should Mr. Trump follow through on his veto.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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