Sen. Bob Corker urges Trump to 'please' veto $1.3 trillion spending bill

WASHINGTON – Sen. Bob Corker is encouraging President Donald Trump to veto the $1.3 trillion spending bill that passed the Senate early Friday morning.

In a surprise tweet just hours after the bill passed, Trump said he is considering vetoing the bill. He cited a lack of funding for a proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as the failure to address a program for children whose parents brought them into the country illegally.

Corker, a Tennessee Republican, responded a few minutes later with a tweet of his own.

“Please do, Mr. President,” he wrote. “I am just down the street and will bring you a pen. The spending levels without any offsets are grotesque, throwing all of our children under the bus. Totally irresponsible.”

Corker voted against the 2,232-page spending proposal, which passed the Senate on a 65-32 vote early Friday, narrowly avoiding a partial government shutdown.

If Trump follows through with his veto threat, it could trigger a shutdown. The government will run out funding at midnight Friday unless he signs the bill.

In a blistering floor speech Thursday, Corker blasted the bill and called it one of the most “grotesque” pieces of legislation he can remember during his two terms in the Senate. He said he would not support the measure because it would set the stage for $2 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years and does not offset spending increases with cuts.

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