Trump signs first ‘minibus’ spending package for 2019
President Trump on Friday signed into law a package of three spending bills for 2019, temporarily setting aside a veto threat that could have shut down the government.
It is the first time in over a decade that the president has signed three spending bills into law before the beginning of the fiscal year.
{mosads} The $147 billion package covered military construction and veterans affairs, the legislative branch, and energy and water.
Those bills made up a quarter of the 12 planned total funding bills, but just a small fraction of the overall spending total.
The Senate approved the measure 92-5, while the House passed it 377-20.
Trump had threatened to veto spending bills if Congress did not adequately fund his border wall proposal. He also said he would never sign another massive omnibus spending package. Congress settled on a strategy of passing “minibus” packages of a few spending bills at a time.
The second package, which passed the Senate on Tuesday and is expected to pass the House next week, bundled defense spending with labor, health and education, as well as a funding extension for other agencies to keep the government’s lights on until December 7. That is well past the September 30 deadline and November’s midterm elections.
It would also put off considering of the Homeland Security bill that deals with wall funding.
Vetoing that bill would trigger a shutdown, but also require Trump to nix the first on-time defense bill in a decade.
“The funding Congress will send to the President next week will continue a historic rebuilding of our nation’s military,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
On Monday, Trump tweeted his dismay at the situation, calling the second spending package “ridiculous” and demanding that Republicans “get tough.”
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