WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened on Friday to veto a $1.3 trillion spending package just hours before the government was set to shut down for lack of funds, lashing out over its failure to fund his long-promised border wall.
“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 posted on Twitter in a message that imperiled a sweeping bipartisan agreement brokered by congressional leaders over his objections.
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
He was referring partly to the fact that he failed to reach a deal with Democrats to include provisions in the spending measure that would preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program he rescinded last fall that allows undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to apply for permits to work legally and avoid deportation.
But Mr. Trump’s failure to secure an agreement on that issue was hardly the only one on which lawmakers defied him in approving the bill. The measure itself deals a broad rebuke to the president’s vision for reordering the size and scope of government, rebuffing his efforts to gut many domestic programs even as it provided the sizable military spending increase Mr. Trump wanted.
