The White House and House leadership are under fire from conservatives for what they call caving to a Democrat controlled budget and cowering in the face of a government shut down.
The two loudest criticisms come in response to the budget deal, struck over the weekend, not including border wall funding and failing to strip $500 million in taxpayer money from abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Democrats are cheering a number of victories.
In response to these criticisms, the White House and House Speaker Paul Ryan are touting an increase in military and border security spending.
"I think the President got a lot out of this bill, most specifically $21 billion to help rebuild the military. I think that is something that he was very proud to campaign on and is delivering on. That’s probably the biggest thing," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during the daily briefing Monday. "With respect to border security, he got $1.52 billion in the current language that’s posted. I think that’s a significant -- and remember, I think people have to keep in context, we’re talking about 2017 funding, right? So this is something that most Presidents would walk into office and that would have been done. Because the last Congress didn’t do this under President Obama, we have an opportunity to get some of the President’s priorities infused for the last five months of 2017."
"That’s a big step forward, and something that he’ll continue to fight for in 2018. When the fiscal year starts the end of September, we will have an opportunity to really infuse the President’s priorities," he continued.
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The President said the same Tuesday morning from the White House.
In Rose Garden @POTUS notes government funding bill includes $21 billion increase for defense spending making America more safe and secure
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) May 2, 2017
.@POTUS notes government funding bill has single largest increase in border security in 10 years, enough to make down payment on Border Wall
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) May 2, 2017
.@POTUS: "In our new budget...we've ended years of painful cuts to our military." pic.twitter.com/uzOkXo5P0E
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 2, 2017
Further, President Trump called for a government shut down in September if Republican priorities are not met by Democrats.
The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
During the weekly House leadership press conference on Tuesday, Speaker Paul Ryan touted the same achievements.
.@SpeakerRyan: Obama admin “constrained our ability to rebuild our military for this century. This appropriations bill changes all of that.” pic.twitter.com/qF73tyeYaa
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 2, 2017
Obamacare repeal, tax reform and a major infrastructure plan are all on the table in coming weeks. Obamacare repeal votes are currently being counted on Capitol Hill with a vote expected by Friday. The White House is sticking to its August 2017 deadline for tax reform and yesterday Spicer said President Trump also wants an infrastructure package done and signed by the end of the year.
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