"I will treat this provision consistently with my
constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully
executed," Trump said in the signing statement
By Darlene Superville,
BRANCHBURG,
N.J. — President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major
legislation on Friday, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the
government operating through September.
The bill cleared both houses of Congress this week and Trump signed
it into law behind closed doors at his home in central New Jersey, well
ahead of a midnight Friday deadline for some government operations to
begin shutting down.
Trump signed the bill despite his objections to numerous provisions
included in the measure. One such provision prohibits the Justice
Department from using any funds to block implementation of medical
marijuana laws by states and U.S. territories. In a signing statement
that accompanied the bill and that laid out his objections, Trump said
he reserved the right to ignore the provision. He held out the
possibility that the administration could pursue legal action against
states and territories that legalize marijuana for medical use.
Marijuana remains illegal for any purpose under
federal law. The White House previously signaled a looming crackdown on
recreational pot use.
“I will treat this provision consistently with my constitutional
responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Trump
said in the signing statement, a tool that previous presidents have
used to explain their positions on appropriations bills.
Trump also objects to provision governing the transfer of prisoners
held at a U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the White House
said his objection should not be seen as a shift in policy, but as a
statement of his view that the provision could conflict with his
constitutional authority and duties in some circumstances.
Trump said during the presidential campaign that he wanted the
detention center, known as “Gitmo,” kept open. At one point, he pledged
to “load it up with some bad dudes.”
Other budget battles lie ahead as the White House and Congress hammer
out a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Republicans praised $15 billion in additional Pentagon spending
obtained by Trump, as well as $1.5 billion in emergency spending for
border security, though not for the wall he has vowed to build along the
U.S.-Mexico border to deter illegal immigration, and the extension of a
school voucher program in the District of Columbia.
Trump also wants a huge military buildup matched by cuts to popular domestic programs and foreign aid accounts.
Republicans and Democrats who negotiated the spending bill in recent
days had successfully defended other accounts Trump had targeted for
spending cuts, such as foreign aid, the Environmental Protection Agency,
support for the arts and economic development grants, among others.
The sweeping, 1,665-page bill also increases spending for NASA,
medical research, and the FBI and other federal law enforcement
agencies.
Trump took to Twitter earlier this week to complain about the
bipartisan process that produced the measure but later changed his tone
and began highlighting the spending that was added for the military and
for border security. He advocated in one tweet for a “good shutdown” in
September to fix the “mess” that produced the bill, but then appeared in
the White House Rose Garden hours later to boast that the measure
amounted to a big win for him.
In other areas, retired union coal miners won a $1.3 billion
provision to preserve health benefits for more than 22,000 retirees.
House Democrats won funding to give Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped
government $295 million to help ease its Medicaid burden
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