President Donald Trump’s administration issued a formal veto threat to Democrats in Congress, vowing to oppose their government funding bill without border security.
In a statement from the Office of Management and Budget, the administration wrote that they “cannot accept legislation that provides unnecessary funding for wasteful programs while ignoring the Nation’s urgent border security needs.”
Trump has demanded that any bill funding the government include $5.6 billion for border security.
The White House noted that the House Democrat spending bill also undermined the president’s Mexico City policy, an executive order that Trump imposed to bar taxpayer funds from subsidizing overseas abortions. The House bill also included funding for the West Bank/Gaza strip as well as Syria and Pakistan and certain United Nations funds, which the administration said were frozen or under review during the Trump administration.
“The administration looks forward to working with the Congress to enact appropriations that will adequately secure the Nation’s borders and get the federal government back to work for the American people as soon as possible,” the statement read.
Democrats took power on Thursday in the House of Representatives, electing Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House. They planned to pass two bills to fund the government, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to take up the bills without Trump’s approval.
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