Trump Threatens to Veto the Spending Bill

Does vetoing the spending bill mean more funding to the border wall? Not necessarily.

On Friday, President Trump threatened to veto the Omnibus Spending Bill, a spending package of $1.3 trillion, as a response to the failure and delay of his vision of a border wall being implemented and funded.

He tweeted on Friday that he is “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.”

This statement most likely sprang forth Trump’s growing tension and frustration with the Democrats, who refused to provide aid or support in his decision to rescind DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This act was put in place by Obama, granting undocumented immigrants rights to apply for work legally without the threat of deportation.

However, at the core of President Trump’s anger was the failure to connect enough fund for the border wall between the United States and Mexico. This idea of a border wall was a promise he made during his campaign as an effort to prevent further illegal immigrants from entering the country, yet this proposal has been stalled due to lack of funding and pushback from the Congress. The spending bill that Mr. Trump was unhappy with excluded his wall from the budget, despite including almost $1.6 billion for border security. While the bill directed funds towards strengthening existing barriers and implementing more advanced technological preventions, it resisted the notion of building a concrete, physical wall along the border.

President Trump’s discontent with the bill was not echoed or backed by his advisers, who on Thursday told reporters that the president would sign the bill.

Potential consequences of this veto include the shutdown of the government at midnight. This would have taken place at an inconvenient timing, as it coincides with the gun control march in Washington that will attract thousands. While past governmental shutdowns were a result of the Congress’ inability, President Trump will be in full, complete responsibility for this one, without the support from his party leaders or advisers.

This spending bill signals something larger than just the lack of funding for the wall itself, but also Mr. Trump’s failure to keep up with his campaign promises to reorganize the government and put forth other domestic programs that depended on a sizable spending increase.

President Trump’s threat of veto was ill received by both Republicans and Democrats; the president is alone in this battle against passing the spending bill as an attempt to stand up for his border wall that has been stalled since his inauguration.

The Democrats have found themselves in a political advantage because of this bill and some Democratic aides have expressed unwavering sentiments against any considerations of compromises or concessions, even if Mr. Trump were to actually veto the bill.

Last weekend, the White House offered the Congress a deal between DACA and the border wall. They proposed for an extension of protection for current DACA recipients for two and a half years in exchange for $25 billion funding for the border wall. This offer, however, received pushback from the Democrats, who said that the party would only grant the funding if the president opened up a pathway to citizenship for a greater population of young immigrants than just current DACA recipients. The Democrats demanded a more accessible means of inclusion of illegal immigrants, a population of well over a million people. This offer, however, was rejected by the White House.

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