Donald Trump announced on Friday that he has reluctantly signed Congress’ $1.3tn spending bill, despite a threat he made hours earlier to veto the budget and shut down the federal government.
The US president had caused consternation with a tweet suggesting that he might exercise his veto right due to the bill’s lack of immigration measures. But in impromptu remarks at the White House, he said he would sign because of the need to strengthen the military.
“My highest duty is to keep America safe,” Trump told reporters. “We need to take care of our military… As a matter of national security, I’ve signed this omnibus budget bill. There’s a lot of things that I’m unhappy about in this bill.”
He added “in a sense we were forced” and described the rushed nature of the negotiations on Capitol Hill as “a ridiculous situation”. He vowed: “I say to Congress I’m never going to sign a bill like this again. Nobody read it. It’s hours old.”
He blamed Democrats in particular for not giving priority to the military, which gets a $66bn increase over the 2017 level, and insisting on their own measures being included. “We have tremendous opposition to creating really what will be by far the strongest military we’ve ever had.”
Trump admitted that he was disappointed with just $1.6bn for his much trailed wall on the Mexican border, far short of the $25bn he wanted. “Not happy with $1.6bn but it does start the wall and we will make that $1.6bn go very far,” he promised.
The bill takes some actions on gun control and the opioids crisis but does not include protections for young undocumented migrants brought to the country as children, known as Dreamers and previously protected under an Obama-era executive order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Daca.
Trump sought to blame Democrats for neglecting the Dreamers. “The Republicans are with you,” he said. “The Democrats fought every single inch of the way. They did not want Daca in this bill … Republicans are much more on your side than the Democrats, who are using you for your own purposes.”
He called for the Senate to remove its filibuster rule, allowing legislation to advance by a simple majority of 51 votes, and for Congress to give him a line by line veto of future budgets to prevent a repeat.
As Trump departed, the president was asked about his earlier veto threat. “I was thinking very seriously about the veto but because of the incredible gains we made for the military that overrode any of our thinking,” he said.
The budget passed the House and Senate on Thursday hours after the 2,232-page text was released to lawmakers and despite opposition from groups on the right and left. Without new funding the federal government would have been partially shut down, a third such closure in months.
Earlier, speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room, Mick Mulvaney, the head of Office of Management and Budget, had insisted Trump would sign the bill into law.
“Is the president going to sign the bill? The answer is yes,” Mulvaney told reporters.
The top Trump aide did note that the White House did not consider the omnibus bill to be ideal, as it contained compromises.
“This is what it looks like when you don’t have 60 votes in the Senate and Democrats get to take their pound of flesh,” Mulvaney said.
The budget does include $1.6bn for barriers on the southern border but it is not authorized to be used on the wall prototypes Trump recently viewed in California. Trump’s presidential campaign made building a wall on the US-Mexico border a signature issue, the candidate repeatedly promising that Mexico would pay for it.
“I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill,” Trump wrote on Friday morning, “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.”
The Daca program was canceled by Trump in September 2017. However, ongoing litigation has kept protection for many Dreamers in place.
Trump previously rejected a deal with Democrats that would have protected Dreamers in exchange for $25bn for a border wall.
“DACA was abandoned by the Democrats,” Trump tweeted. “Very unfair to them! Would have been tied to desperately needed Wall.”
Trump was scheduled to leave Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday evening. In the capital, the House has adjourned.
Congressional leaders from both parties did not immediately comment. Mark Meadows, chair of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, tweeted his support.
“Let’s pass a short term [bill] while you negotiate a better deal for the forgotten men and women of America,” he wrote.
Bob Corker of Tennessee, a budget hawk who has clashed fiercely with Trump, tweeted: “Please do, Mr President. I am just down the street and will bring you a pen. The spending levels without any offsets are grotesque, throwing all of our children under the bus. Totally irresponsible.”
A senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill told the Guardian: “One of two things will happen. He either signs the bill by the end of the day or he ends up signing a bill he likes even less after Republicans have to renegotiate with Democrats to get out of a shutdown.”
