Despite threatening to use his veto earlier in the day, President Donald Trump announced at a news conference Friday that he has signed the omnibus spending package into law.
Trump said he was “forced" to sign the $1.3 trillion bill into law if he wanted to build the military, promising that he would “never sign a bill like this again." Placing his hand on the 2,232-page bill sitting on a table next to him, Trump referred to it as “this ridiculous situation that took place over the past week."
Although administration officials said that Trump “looks forward to signing" the bill on Thursday, the president tweeted just before 9 a.m. ET on Friday that he was considering a veto of the bill, citing the lack of action for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and a lack of funding for a border wall as reasons he might take that step.
Had Trump used his veto, it would have triggered a government shutdown at midnight Friday.
After he finished his announcement, Trump told reporters, “I looked very seriously at the veto. I was considering doing the veto," but that he ultimately decided against it for national security reasons.
At 12:32 a.m. ET, Trump announced that he would be holding a news conference "concerning the omnibus spending bill" at 1:00 p.m. ET.
News conference at the White House concerning the Omnibus Spending Bill. 1:00 P.M.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
At the news conference, Trump took time to outline and praise increases in defense spending that were part of the bill.
“Our military is very depleted, but it's rapidly getting better. And in a short amount of time, it will be stronger than it's ever been," he promised. “There will be nobody who will say that our military will be depleted, like they've said for a long period of time."
He also touted an upgrade of the United States's nuclear program.
After criticizing the bill for not including any mention of DACA recipients or the border wall, Trump said that he wanted the Hispanic community and immigrants to know that Republicans “are on your side" and Democrats “are using you."
Not everyone was impressed by the way Trump handled this situation.
“I, for one, am tired of all the winning," Matt House, the communications director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted out after the president finished his address.
