President Donald Trump signed a massive $738 billion Defense bill Friday – which will officially establish the Space Force.
‘With my signature today you will witness the birth of the Space Force,’ he said. ‘And that will be now officially the sixth branch of the United States armed forces.’
He signed the legislation at Joint Base Andrews – which he dubbed ‘America’s Airfield’ as it houses Air Force One – before he departed to Mar-a-Lago for the Christmas holiday.
President Trump is photographed signing a giant defense spending bill that officially ushers in his Space Force
President Trump boasted that the defense spending bill was the biggest ever – and remarked that it was $738 billion – ‘that’s with a B!’
First lady Melania Trump (left) introduced President Trump (right) and wished the troops a Merry Christmas and happy and healthy new year
First lady Melania Trump (left) and President Trump (right) are photographed arriving Friday at a Joint Base Andrews bill signing ceremony
President Trump (left) is seen holding the hand of first lady Melania Trump (right). The couple traveled to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays directly after the signing
First daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump is seen awaiting her father at a defense bill signing ceremony Friday at Joint Base Andrews
Barron Trump (left) accompanies his parents first lady Melania Trump (center) and President Trump (right) as they board Air Force One to head to Florida for the holidays
First lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, second lady Karen Pence and first daugher Ivanka Trump sit row at Friday’s bill signing
Trump marveled at the size of the spending package, noting that it was billions – ‘that’s with a B.’
‘That’s an all-time record in the history of our country,’ he told the crowd of troops gathered. ‘What’s the good of a budget if you don’t have the best military in the world.’
He remarked that it had been 70 years since a branch of the military had been created – the last being the Air Force under President Harry Truman.
‘Think of that, we will create a brand new Ameriacn military service – that’s such a momentous statement,’ he said.
‘It’s a big moment,’ Trump went on. ‘That’s a big moment and we’re all here for it.’
‘Space. There’s going to be a lot of things happening in space. Because space is the world’s newest war-fighting domain,’ he added.
Trump said he believed there could be ‘grave threats to our national security’ coming from space.
‘American superiority in space is absolutely vital – we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough, but very shortly we’ll be leading by alot,’ he said.
President Trump (right) shakes hands with Gen. Jay Raymond (left), the new commander of Space Force, who he introduced at the event
President Trump speaks at Joint Base Andrews Friday. The base houses his Air Force One planes
President Trump’s family members and the vice president and his wife huddle behind the president as he signs a giant defense bill into law Friday
The president also introduced General John ‘Jay’ Raymond, the new head of Space Force.
‘The first chief of Space Operations, and he will become the very first member of the Space Force and he will be on the Joint Chiefs, he will be on the Joint Chiefs, which are now expanding by one position that’s a very powerful position,’ Trump said. ‘So General Raymond, congratulations and thank you for everything.’
First lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were with him when he put pen to paper.
The first lady introduced her husband.
‘On behalf of my family I want to thank every member of our military and their families for their devotion to our country and their courage to defend our freedoms,’ she said. ‘During this holiday season we send our prayers to all who are serving overseas and who will not be home with their families over Christmas.’
Melania Trump told the servicemembers in the crowd ‘our nation is with you.’
‘Wishing you a all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year,’ she said, before turning over the podium to her husband.
The bill contains several measure Ivanka Trump lobbied lawmakers for, including an increase to the nation’s largest federal child care assistance program by half a billion dollars; some $250 million for historically black universities; paid family and medical leave for federal employees; and $100 million for USAID’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Fund.
Earlier in the day Trump took to Twitter to tout the legislation’s provisions, such as its 3.1 per cent military pay raise, paid leave for federal workers – and an increase in the ‘smocking age.’
That provision, inserted by congressional negotiators, would raise the age for all tobacco purchases to 21. Some military members have complained that they can fight for the nation at age 18 but not buy tobacco products until later.
Trump corrected the spelling of his tweet after blasting it out, but not before being chided by critics including George Conway, the husband of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.
President Donald Trump will sign a $738 billion defense bill before heading to Mar-a-Lago Friday night
‘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 smocking age to 21! BIG!’ Trump tweeted early Friday.
The spelling error was enough to set off Conway, who tweeted: ‘I agree with IMPOTUS @realDonaldTrump that people should not smock until age 21. #IMPOTUS,’ touting his own pro-impeachment stance for the president, who is sometimes referred to as POTUS.
The bill provides a $22 billion increase in defense funding, while establishing the new ‘Space Force’ that Trump wanted. The head of that agency will report to the head of the Air Force but also serve among the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
President Trump touted the massive $738 billion defense bill he will sign, and said it would raise the ‘smocking age’ to 21
CLEAN UP DUTY: The president then put out a tweet with the corrected spelling
The massive bill includes 3.1 per cent pay raise for military members
It also raises the smoking age to 21
Funding for border barriers is flat, but negotiators dropped Democratic provisions that would prevent the administration from raiding funds from other areas
Trump was expected to sign the bill before heading to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays
The 3,488-page bill provides does not contain a prohibition on border wall funding. Republicans pushed to allow the administration to continue to be able to raid funds appropriated for other things as part of Trump’s gambit to secure ’emergency’ wall construction, but it was not included in a final deal.
The spending measure includes $1.4 billion for wall construction, the same as last year and short of the original Administration request for $8.6 billion – although without the restrictions on raiding other funds.
The compromise easily passed the House and Senate, although a faction of progressive lawmakers including Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted it.
“There is no pressing reason for Congress to shower Trump, his Saudi friends, and the Pentagon contractors of the military-industrial complex with this $738-billion taxpayer giveaway right now,’ Sander said in a statement when negotiators reached a deal earlier this month. ‘We owe it to the American people to go back to the drawing board. Congress must say no,’ he said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe of Oklahoma called the space force ‘the president’s big deal,” saying he had ‘some reluctance at first’ in backing it, The Hill reported.
“It will help protect space and ensure America’s dominance in this warfighting domain for years to come,” Inhofe said. “China and Russia have their own space dominance … and just the fact that we don’t have one is something that made people believe we didn’t have an interest in the Space Force.”