U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion budget package for the fiscal year 2020 into law on Friday to avert a government shutdown.
White House spokesman Judd Deere told journalists traveling with the president on Air Force One that Trump signed the package on the flight from Washington to Florida.
He had been expected to sign the bill into law after the government’s spending plans were hammered out by Congress this week, and his signature was needed before midnight to avert a shutdown.
Earlier, Trump had announced in a Friday tweet his approval of a $738 billion defense spending bill for FY 2020.
The Senate approved the partisan spending bill, which will fund a U.S. Space Force and paid parental leave, on Wednesday with an 86-8 vote.
“I will be signing our 738 Billion Dollar Defense Spending Bill today. It will include 12 weeks Paid Parental Leave, gives our troops a raise, importantly creates the SPACE FORCE, SOUTHERN BORDER WALL FUNDING, repeals ‘Cadillac Tax’ on Health Plans, raises smoking age to 21! BIG!” the president tweeted.
Legislators deliberated over different versions of the bill for nearly three months before agreeing to a final version days before Congress leaves for the holidays.
The bill, which is part of a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package, includes funding for 12 weeks of paid parental leave cheered by both Democrats and Republicans as one of first daughter Ivanka Trump’s most significant objectives since she took on her role as senior adviser to the president in 2017.
