--- title: Donald Trump Veto Threat Baffles Capitol Hill description: President Donald Trump threatened to shut down the government on Friday morning by vetoing a massive spending package. canonical: https://time.com/5212465/donald-trump-veto-mexic-daca-omnibus/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-23T15:10:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:33.272Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Why Trump's Spending Bill Veto Threat Is So Baffling og:description: He had pledged to support the bill hours before og:url: https://time.com/5212465/donald-trump-veto-mexic-daca-omnibus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt638f406cdfeb981e/69892bcadb298796de25f329/gettyimages-936678880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump And First Lady Host Greek Independence Day Celebration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Trump's Spending Bill Veto Threat Is So Baffling twitter:description: He had pledged to support the bill hours before twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt638f406cdfeb981e/69892bcadb298796de25f329/gettyimages-936678880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Trump's Spending Bill Veto Threat Is So Baffling > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: White House Says President Donald Trump Will Sign Budget Bill [Watch (HLS stream): White House Says President Donald Trump Will Sign Budget Bill](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J58QoDEQ.m3u8) (0:31)  _Published 2018-03-22. As of Thursday morning, Congress has just more than 36 hours to pass the $1.3 trillion spending package_ by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Mar 23, 2018 3:10 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to guests during a Greek Independence Day celebration in the East Room of the White House, on March 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to guests during a Greek Independence Day celebration in the East Room of the White House, on March 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Mar 23, 2018 3:10 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s threat to veto a massive spending package Friday morning rattled Capitol Hill and upset his own White House’s carefully presented pledges of support. Despite earlier statements that he would sign the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, which lawmakers approved on Thursday before leaving for a two-week vacation, Trump argued that the bill did not include money for a border wall with Mexico or a solution for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/977166887493799936) The tweet alarmed many on Capitol Hill, which was otherwise quiet: many members of Congress already had left town for the recess period, which would make it more likely that a veto could end in a government shutdown. “Most people are gone,” one senior congressional aide tells TIME. “If this happens, we’re having a shutdown.” It also left many scratching their heads. Trump blamed Democrats for the absence of a DACA solution, but it was the Democrats who earlier this week offered the president what many in their party considered a generous [compromise](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/daca-obamacare-congress-omnibus-no-deal/556313/): full funding for Trump’s border wall, to the tune of $25 billion, in exchange for a path to citizenship for the 1.8 million young immigrants known as Dreamers. In the end, no compromise on immigration was reached. (Trump got just $1.6 billion for border security, most of which was allocated for [fencing](http://time.com/5210780/congress-omnibus-border-security-wall-donald-trump/).) But the bill nevertheless had adequate bipartisan support to pass — and, it should be stressed, the vocal backing of the Trump Administration. On Thursday, the White House [described](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-building-stronger-american-workforce/) the omnibus bill as “a victory for the American people and supports President Trump’s priorities.” In [remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-vice-president-pence-tax-cuts-put-america-first-event-3/) at an event in New Hampshire on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence praised the package, commending its emphasis on military funding. “President Trump promised to rebuild our military and restore the arsenal of democracy,” Pence said. “And in just a day he’s going to have on his desk a bill that will make the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan.” “Let’s cut right to the chase: Is the President going to sign the bill? The answer is yes,” Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday. “Is it perfect? No. Is it exactly what we asked for in the budget? No. Were we ever going to get that? No. That is not how the process works.” Lawmakers and their staffs are now steeling for a contingency plan should Trump indeed veto the package. Democrats saw a possible silver lining: if the government shuts down, they will have new leverage to negotiate. “One of two things will happen,” a senior Democratic leadership aide told TIME. “Either he’ll sign the bill by the end of the day, or he’ll sign a bill that’s worse for him after the Republicans come to the Democrats to end a shutdown.” But when it comes to this administration, predicting the future is more often than not a futile exercise. “No one expected it, but no one was that surprised by it,” the aide said of Trump’s veto threat. “This is what he does.” ## Transcript Let's cut right to the chase. Is the President going to sign the bill? The answer is yes. Why? Because it funds his priorities. We've talked for the last time three, four, five, six months about trying to get the President's priorities funded. And his omnibus bill does that. So all things considered when we look at the bill We have to weigh what we asked for and what we had to give away to give it. Is it perfect? No, is it exactly what we asked for in the budget? No, were we ever going to get that? 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