09/27/2018

Trump Says He Will Sign Spending Bill

By signing it, a partial government shutdown will be averted

On Sept. 26, 2018, President [Donald] Trump said he will sign an $852 billion spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown at the end of the week. The spending bill passed by the House this week funds all agencies at current levels through Dec. 7.

The continuing resolution passed as part of a broader 2019 appropriations package that includes big spending increases for the Pentagon as well as for the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services departments. But it does not include funding for Trump’s border wall, instead postponing that debate until the lame duck.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) also talked to Trump this week and was convinced he would sign the bill despite the absence of funding for his proposed wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I’m confident he will sign it,” Ryan said. “This funds our military, this funds opioids, this does a lot of the things that we all want to accomplish together and we’ve had very good conversations with the president.”

There has been some anxiety among congressional Republicans that Trump would allow a government shutdown to occur in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections. Trump called the spending bill “ridiculous” in a tweet last week and demanded to know where his border wall money was. Trump said at the time that Republicans need to “get tough” on spending priorities.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.