WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump provoked a fresh political crisis Friday, threating to veto an already approved budget and shut down the federal government.
The US leader was to address the media at the White House after he appeared to reverse his support for the $1.3 trillion spending bill, amid unfavorable television coverage.
Trump’s administration had categorically said he supported the deal brokered by the Republican controlled Congress and passed in a dead-of-night vote, claiming it as victory before the 71-year-old’s change of heart.
Many lawmakers have already left Washington for two weeks recess, so a renegotiation is unlikely.
“I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill,” Trump tweeted, suggesting the deal did not do enough to help 800,000 immigrants holding a de facto amnesty, which he rescinded.
Trump has repeatedly tried to blame the looming end of the “DACA” program on Democrats. The Obama-era plan protects migrants brought illegally to America as children from deportation.
The president also vented that the spending bill did not fully fund his signature campaign promise to build “the BORDER WALL, which” he said “is desperately needed for our National Defense.”
If the president does not sign the budget before midnight Friday, hundreds of thousands of civil servants will be put on forced leave, national parks from the Grand Canyon to Yellowstone will close and non-essential services will stop.
Trump’s threat came hours after a host on conservative channel Fox News pilloried the deal as a Washington “swamp budget.”
The tweet caps yet another week of high drama at a White House that seems to lurch from crisis to crisis.
This week the former reality TV star replaced his national security adviser, launched a new trade fight with China, and needled investigators probing Russia election meddling.
At the same time Trump faces an almost unprecedented number of scandals from a defamation lawsuit, to allegations of two extramarital affairs.
The spending package provided $1.6 billion for border security and construction or repair of nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) of border fencing, but that was far less than Trump had been seeking.
It also set aside the issue of the so-called “Dreamers,” who are in legal limbo following the Trump administration’s repeal of DACA.
The program expired on March 5, but the issue is being fought in the courts. Attempts at a legislative fix collapsed in a previous round of negotiations to avert a government shutdown.
In a Congress riven by partisan feuding, passage early Friday of the massive bill to fund the US government through September was considered a rare achievement.
The centerpiece was a big increase in US defense spending to $700 billion dollars, up $61 billion, and a 10 percent hike in domestic spending, which would rise to $591 billion.
“This bill is so important on many fronts, from school safety and troop funding, to opioids and veterans care,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday.
Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney went one step further: “Let’s cut right to the chase. Is the president going to sign the bill? The answer is yes. Why? Because it funds his priorities.”
Five times since October, lawmakers have had to pass stopgap funding legislation to keep the government’s lights on. Twice this year the government was allowed to slip into shutdown.
A third lapse would be deeply embarrassing for a Republican-controlled Congress facing midterm elections in November.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said Trump “needs to drop his wildly reckless veto threats” and sign the bill now.
“Americans deserve leadership from the White House, not more self-inflicted chaos.”
Some conservative Republicans welcomed the move, saying the process was flawed from the start.
Trump tweets threat to shut down US government
Trump tweets threat to shut down US government
Blacklisted naphtha tanker from Russia enters Venezuelan waters while another diverts, ship data shows
- Under U.S. sanctions related to Russia, the ship has a different sanctions profile than Skipper, the tanker that was seized by the U.S. on December 10
HOUSTON: A tanker subject to U.S. sanctions carrying some 300,000 barrels of naphtha from Russia entered Venezuelan waters late on Thursday, while another began redirecting course in the Atlantic Ocean, ship tracking data showed, a reflection of diverging last-minute decisions by ship owners after President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of oil tankers under sanctions bound for the OPEC country earlier this week.
The move ramped up pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by targeting the country's main source of income and followed the seizure by the U.S. of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela earlier in December.
Vessels that were not subject to sanctions began setting sail on Wednesday from Venezuelan waters after a week's pause, helping drain the country's mounting crude stocks.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Trump's 'blockade' aims to halt sanctioned oil tankers to Venezuela
• Hyperion's sanctions profile differs from seized Skipper tanker
• Venezuela condemns US actions as violating international law
Gambia-flagged medium tanker Hyperion docked on Friday at Amuay Bay on Venezuela's western coast, according to LSEG ship tracking data. It loaded near Murmansk in Russia in late November.
Under U.S. sanctions related to Russia, the ship has a different sanctions profile than Skipper, the tanker that was seized by the U.S. on December 10.
The U.S. can only seize vessels outside of its jurisdiction, or vessels that aren't heading to or from the country, if Washington has placed them under sanctions for links to groups it designates as terrorist, said David Tannenbaum, a director at consulting firm Blackstone Compliance Services that specializes in sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance.
Skipper, formerly called the Adisa, was under sanctions for what the U.S. says was involvement in Iranian oil trading that generated revenue for Iranian groups it has designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
With the Hyperion, though, sanctions were imposed to reduce Russian revenues from energy because of its war with Ukraine.
"The Hyperion doesn't have known ties to terrorism, and therefore unless they can prove it's subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., Washington can't grab it extraterritorially," said Tannenbaum, who previously worked with the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions.
REDIRECTS AND U-TURNS
The Angola-flagged Agate, another medium tanker under sanctions that loaded in Russia and had been sailing toward the Caribbean, was seen redirecting on Friday, according to LSEG ship tracking. The vessel was pointing towards Africa, but had not yet signaled a new destination.
Oman-flagged Garnet, also under sanctions and loaded in Russia, continued on its track, signaling the Caribbean as its destination on Friday.
Benin-flagged tanker Boltaris, under sanctions and carrying some 300,000 barrels of Russian naphtha bound for Venezuela, made a U-turn earlier this month and was heading for Europe without having discharged, according to LSEG vessel monitoring data.
Two very large crude carriers not subject to sanctions set sail for China on Thursday from Venezuela, according to sources familiar with Venezuela's oil export operations, marking only the second and third tankers unrelated to Chevron to depart the country since the U.S. seized Skipper.
The American oil major, which has continued to ship Venezuelan crude under a U.S. authorization, exported a crude cargo on Thursday bound for the U.S., LSEG data showed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said the U.S. was not concerned about the four vessels that sailed from Venezuela on Thursday, as those were not ships under sanctions.
"Sanctioned boats, we have the capabilities necessary to enforce our laws. We'll have a judicial order, we'll execute on those orders and there's nothing that will impede us from being able to do that," Rubio said.
Venezuela's government called Trump's blockade a "grotesque threat" in a statement on Tuesday, saying it violates international law, free commerce and the right of free navigation.
