“I Will Never Sign A Bill Like This Again”, Says Trump As He Signs In A $1.3 Trillion Bill Averting A Government Shutdown

Hours after threatening to veto a $1.3 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the next six months, United States President Donald Trump finally signed the bill, reports The Wall Street Journal. Trump was reportedly unhappy with provisions in the bill relating to immigration. The bill was passed in the House of Representatives on Thursday (22 March) and the Senate on Friday (23 March), and it was expected that Trump would give his assent before the government’s funding expires at midnight on Saturday.

Trump said that he signed the omnibus budget bill as a matter of national security and that there were many things in the bill that he wasn’t happy with.

Trump had earlier tweeted out that he was unhappy with the budget for the wall along the United States-Mexico border and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that was initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

The bill did not address the extension of the DACA which allows undocumented immigrants who enter the country at a young age – also known as Dreamers – to temporarily work in the country without deportation. Trump decided to end the program in September and gave the Congress a deadline of 5 March to bring in a replacement to prevent people from losing protection under DACA. However a federal court blocked the move and ordered the government to continue on with it. The Supreme Court had declined to expedite the government’s appeal to end it.

Both Democrats and Republicans urged Trump to drop his veto threat and sign the bill.

The bill also includes $5.17 billion for construction of physical barriers along the United States-Mexico border along with other security measures. Trump got funding for about 53 km (33 miles) of new fencing along the border – half of what he had requested – along with funding for 96 km (60 miles) to fund replacement fencing.