President Joe Biden signed the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus bill on Thursday while vacationing in the Virgin Islands.
White House staff had to fly the bloated bill to the President’s vacation home in St. Croix so the president could sign it before the December 30th deadline.
A White House Official tells me the Omnibus Bill is in possession of the White House. It has to be signed by Dec 30th. The Official says at some point it will be transported to St Croix for POTUS to sign to make the Dec 30th deadline. #POTUS
— Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) December 29, 2022
The president left Washington, DC, for his vacation on Tuesday evening before the bill was ready to sign. The White House announced Thursday evening, however, that the president had signed it.
“Looking forward to more in 2023,” Biden said on his social media account, promoting his year of “historic progress” as president.
Today, I signed the bipartisan omnibus bill, ending a year of historic progress.
It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, VAWA funding – and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine.
Looking forward to more in 2023. pic.twitter.com/KTI1R9qMij
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 29, 2022
Reporters traveling with the president were locked out of the signing ceremony, as the White House only released a photo of the president in a suit signing the bill at a non-descript table.
The president and his family are staying at the the house of billionaire couple Bill and Connie Neville, for free, according to the New York Post.
The couple was recently on the guest list for Biden’s first state dinner at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron.