President Donald Trump threatened to veto the spending deal reached by Congress this week, just hours before the government is again slated to shut down. The issue? That Democrats didn’t get a deal done for DACA.
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
President Trump infamously ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave protections to undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. most of their lives, in September, giving Congress until March 5 to pass legislation to ensure its survival.
Though Democrats have repeatedly drawn a line in the sand on DACA as government shutdowns have approached, they have failed to secure protections for DACA recipients every time. This spending bill was no different.
According to the Washington Post, the administration proposed three-year protections for DACA recipients in exchange for $25 billion in border wall funding. Democrats rejected that, insisting that a path to citizenship be included. Trump has repeatedly changed his position on what fix to DACA he would like.
Instead, nothing about DACA made it into the bill.
The $1.3 trillion spending bill was passed on Thursday by the House, 256-167, and it passed the Senate this morning by a 65-33 margin.
If Trump does veto the bill, those numbers put Congress close to the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto.