Former president Donald Trump made his disappointment in the $1.66 trillion omnibus bill clear when he posted a video on Truth Social late Thursday morning.
Congress is working to approve the $1.66 trillion U.S. government spending bill ahead of the Friday midnight deadline. The bill must be approved before the deadline to avoid a government shutdown. It was delayed for weeks as Congress members disagreed over the bill’s proposals, such as funding around immigration, which was a major talking point for Trump in his Thursday video.
In the video, Trump called the bill “ludicrous,” “unacceptable” and a “disaster for our country.” He said the bill also was a disaster for the Republican party because they had the power to stop the bill. He went on to blame Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican and current Senate minority leader, for aiding the Democrats in passing the bill before Republicans take control of the House in the new year.
“Biden and the radical Democrats are trying to ram through this monstrosity in the dark of night when no one has even had a chance to read [the bill],” Trump said, saying the bill was more than 4,000 pages long.
Trump urged his fellow Republicans to vote against the bill, mostly citing his distaste for how the bill addressed immigration as a reason to vote against it. Trump’s message was branded with his 2024 Make America Great Again campaign logo. During his first presidential campaign, Trump took a hard stance against illegal immigration and often promised to secure the southern border by building a wall. President Joe Biden has faced mounting criticism from mostly Republican lawmakers about the increased illegal border crossings since he took office.
Much of Trump’s Truth Social message revolved around the bill’s border proposals. Trump said the omnibus bill included $1.9 billion for border management to process immigrants but prohibited the funds from being used in border security measures such as building a wall. Trump went on to say that the bill designates $500 million to other countries to be used for border security instead.
“But we’re not allowed to use any money,” he said. “This bill will make the border worse.”
He also said the bill would worsen crime, inflation and the economy.
“Our country is going to hell because of what [the Biden administration] has done the last two years,” Trump said.
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, paused the bill’s progress when he proposed another amendment on the topic of immigration earlier this week, according to Reuters. Lee’s amendment would slow border crossings by maintaining a policy that was implemented under Trump’s administration. Democrats responded with a different amendment to increase funding for law enforcement agencies operating at the border. Both amendments failed.
The Senate must vote on more than a dozen remaining amendments before the bill can move to the House. The House also must approve the bill before it lands on President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
If approved, the bill would allow for government funding to continue through September 30, 2023.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.
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