WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Andrew Feinberg — Mulvaney spent much of the call refuting reports that cast the funding bill as a compromise acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats.
"The truth of the matter is that the American people won and the President negotiated that victory for them," Mulvaney said during a conference call with reporters.
On Monday, Mulvaney had said that the bill was a victory for both sides, having told reporters it is great the Democrats like the bill and that it is a great deal for the Trump administration as well.
While he previously described the compromise reached by omitting to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border in return for Democrats accepting a lack of funding for Obamacare subsidies as "appropriate," Mulvaney told reporters today the deal represented a major victory because it was the largest-ever overall increase in border-security funding.
"We will show you, folks, what you can do with the money," he said, promising more information at today’s briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer. "Pictures speak louder than words."
In addition, Mulvaney described the increase in defense spending as a total victory rather than a compromise because the bill did not follow the rule of parity, which has required each dollar of defense spending increases to be matched with a dollar of domestic spending.
"We broke that this year… in such a way that almost defies logic that the Democrats would allow us to have such a huge win," he said.
Mulvaney also cast the lack of new funding to bail out Puerto Rico and the continued presence of the Hyde Amendment — which prohibits federal funding of abortion services — as total victories despite the inclusion of reprogrammed existing funds for Puerto Rico and continued funding to Planned Parenthood in the bill.
"They [Democrats] were desperate…and they didn’t get a penny," Mulvaney said of the Democrats’ desire for further funds for the Puerto Rican government.
But Mulvaney saved his strongest attack for claims by Democrats that they had any part in negotiating the funding bill and avoiding a government shutdown.
"We completely destroyed that narrative by negotiating this deal," he said, adding that Democrats failed to force a government shutdown they could use as proof to claim Trump is incapable of governing.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 is expected to be signed in the next several days. The bill provides funding for the US government through the end of the 2017 fiscal year.
