Trump spending bill veto threat: How lawmakers are reacting
Nearing a deadline Friday to sign a bill to keep the government funded through the end of September, President Trump suggested he might veto the measure over the lack of full funding for his border wall and the failure to address the plight of "Dreamers."
If he doesn't sign the bill or he vetoes it, the government would shut down at midnight. The House passed the spending bill Friday, and the Senate passed it early Friday morning. A few lawmakers -- such as fiscal conservatives Sens. Rand Paul and Bob Corker -- cheered on the president's threat, but others condemned it.
Mr. Trump tweeted Friday morning, "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."
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, drew a comparison to one of Mr. Trump's books in response to news of the veto threat.
"It's like art of the deal wrecker -- that's my reaction," he told reporters Friday morning, adding, "For the president to threaten to move us from certainty to more chaos and confusion is foolish."
He also addressed Mr. Trump's complaint about the lack of a solution for Dreamers and lack of funding for his border wall.
"We gave him a deal a month ago," Kaine said. "One month ago I was the chief Democratic negotiator on a bipartisan bill in the Senate that provided protection for Dreamers, including a path to citizenship, cleaning up the problem he created...and giving the president 25 billions dollars over 10 years for border security the exact number he asked for."
Kaine told reporters, "We gave him every penny he asked for for 10 years and fixed the Dreamer problem, and he said, 'No.' When he says today, 'Oh I'm unhappy there's not a solution here,' it's like, were you asleep last month?"
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican, said, "We have an indefensible position as the Congress, but we also have a responsibility as the Congress, and the responsibility is not to shut the government down."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, called Mr. Trump, "one of the worst negotiators I've ever seen."
Sen. Bob Corker, who has clashed with the president on other issues, is behind him in opposing this bill, though not for the reasons Mr. Trump cited. Nonetheless, he tweeted his support, and offered him a pen for the veto.
"Please do, Mr. President. I am just down the street and will bring you a pen," his tweet read. "The spending levels without any offsets are grotesque, throwing all of our children under the bus. Totally irresponsible."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the majority whip, accused Democrats of mucking up the bill-writing process, but nonetheless called on the president to sign it. "[T]he benefits of Omnibus to national security, border security, opioid crisis, infrastructure, school safety and fixing gun background check system are important and will save lives," he wrote in a Tweet Friday.
Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo voted against the bill and agreed with the president.
"The President is right. Congressional inaction on immigration is shameful and inexcusable," he said in a statement. "While Republican leaders continued to waste time on dead-end legislation,Democratic leaders prefered to use the issue as a campaign weapon rather than solve the problem for Dreamers. The House should have an open debate that allows for the consideration of multiple legislative solutions, including one that tracks the White House outline, whether it's now or immediately when we reconvene."
It's not entirely clear when the president changed his mind. He tweeted praise for the bill Thursday and called on Congress to pass it. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Thursday he had briefed the president on the spending bill and said Mr. Trump's support for it was a certainty. "Yes, he supports the bill. No two ways about it," Ryan said.
CBS News' Alan He and Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.
