President Trump has signed a spending bill created by Republicans to avoid government shutdown, White House I said it on Saturday.
The Republican drafted bill will fund the government through September 30th, closing the first funding battle for Trump's second term. The Saga also led to an internal war among Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The legislation Trump previously supported has increased defense funds by $6 billion and imposed a $13 billion cut.
The deadline to avoid government closures was 11:59pm on Friday, with the White House not announcing Trump's signatures present until noon on Saturday. Trump spent the weekend at Palm Beach and went golfing in Marlago around 8:30am.
The final vote in the Senate to pass the bill was 54-46, with two Democrats joining 52 Republicans and passing the bill. However, the important vote came earlier when the Senate voted 62-38 to advance the law.
To clear that hurdle, a majority of 60 votes was required, and 10 Democrats joined everyone except one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and passed that threshold.
Bill was able to move forward after minority leader Chuck Schumer (NY) announced he would vote Thursday.
Trump on Friday praised Schumer for supporting the bill, congratulating him on Schumer for doing “the right thing,” and later told reporters: Really, I was very impressed with it. ”
The democratic division caused by the vote shattered the message of unity that he hoped would emerge from the House of Representatives' annual strategic retreat this week, eroding the party's trust in keeping the line to block the GOP agenda in the coming legislative battle.
Schumer's move was seen as providing important political cover for democratic Senate centres after he was caught up in a tense internal debate about whether to vote for the bill and keep the government open. Meanwhile, 12 House Democrats in tough districts voted against the measure on Tuesday.
Hakeem Jeffries (D), the minority leader who voted against the bill, refused to say he was confident in Schumer's ability to lead the party towards the upcoming battle against Trump's ambitious agenda.
