In efforts to prevent another government shutdown, Congress passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill this morning, which will fund the government through the beginning of September.
The movement passed easily in both houses of Congress, with a 65-32 vote in the Senate and a 256-167 in the House of Representatives.
The spending package will significantly increase military spending which has been met with support most Republican members of Congress and the President. Also included are increases to domestic spending which is supported by congressional Democrats, according to NPR.
The bill also has spending set aside for election security grants, infrastructure, criminal background checks, anti-opioid measures, border security, and a fix to the Republican tax bill.
President Donald Trump has been critical of the bill, announcing on Friday that he was considering using a veto based on the fact that it did not address recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program or provide funding for the “desperately needed” border wall.
The veto threat was reportedly unplanned, as White House staff announced on Thursday that Trump was expected to sign onto the bill, according to CNN.
He has since done signed the spending measure but said that he will “never sign another bill like this again.” In response to a question at a press conference on Friday afternoon, Trump said that he did not veto the bill “because of the incredible gains we’ve been able to make for the military,” according to Axios.
Trump was not the only one who has criticized the bill – Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has questioned the time Congress was given to vote on the measure. “The $ won’t go to reduce the $21 trillion debt. The $ will be instead be spent elsewhere by the Federal government,” he said on Twitter.
Several other Republicans, including Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst, and Jim Risch expressed opposition to the bill on Thursday night, according to CNN.
Congressional leaders on the other hand have celebrated it passing. “This critical legislation begins to reverse the damage of the last decade and allows us to create a 21-century fighting force,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Wednesday statement, according to NPR.
