Trump calls $1.3 trillion spending bill a 'ridiculous situation'

President Donald Trump assailed a $1.3 trillion government funding bill even as he announced his decision to sign it Friday "as a matter of national security."

"There are a lot of things that I’m unhappy about in this bill," he said, after announcing he signed it into law. "There are a lot of things that we shouldn’t have had in this bill."


Trump said he swallowed his objections to the bill because of its funding for national defense and the military. But he said the bill included many provisions demanded by lawmakers in exchange for the uptick in military funding that he would prefer be eliminated.

Trump urged the Senate to eliminate its filibuster, which requires a supermajority of 60 votes to pass most bills. But there is little appetite among senators of either party to adopt such a rules change. Trump also demanded a line-item veto to allow him to axe specific provisions of bills he dislikes, even though the Supreme Court ruled that line-item vetoes are unconstitutional.

"I will never sign another bill like this again," he said, calling the 2,200 page plan a "ridiculous situation." "I’m not going to do it again."

