Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) recalled on the House floor on Tuesday President Trump’s 2018 promise to never sign a rushed omnibus spending bill, as a $1.4 trillion spending package was scheduled for a House vote on the same day.
Roy plans to vote against the bill and complained that his vote would be used against him politically because of certain provisions he is refusing to approve.
“The President [in 2018]…said about a massive omnibus bill, ‘I will never sign another bill like this again,'” Roy said quoting Trump. “Mr. President, I look forward to your veto.”
White House spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Tuesday that Trump was expected to sign the bill.
“The president is poised to sign it to keep the government open,” Conway said. If Trump does not sign, the federal government will shut down.
In March 2018 President Trump eventually signed an omnibus spending bill after threatening a veto. Trump justified his decision by saying the money was needed to avoid jeopardizing U.S. military operations.
“As a matter of National Security I’ve signed the Omnibus Spending Bill,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I say to Congress: I will NEVER sign another bill like this again.”
Representative Roy also criticized the current bill for continuing to fund the war in Afghanistan.
“And today — Republicans will vote to keep funding Afghanistan with nary a word about the Afghanistan papers or clarifying our mission,” Roy wrote on Twitter, referring to the documents obtained by the Washington Post showing U.S. officials consistently misrepresented their progress in the war in Afghanistan. “For this and other reasons I am a ‘no.'”