Trump signs tax bill in pre-Chrismas ‘rush job’

WASHINGTON — In the end, Donald Trump’s top achievement as U.S. president— a $1.5-trillion US tax overhaul — was finalized in a “rush job” of an affair. And that was OK with him.

None of the members of Congress who muscled through the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years were in the Oval Office on Friday as Trump signed the measure into law. That’s because the president was not pleased with news coverage that morning questioning whether he would get the bill signed before Christmas.

So he ordered up a spur-of-the-moment signing event where he ticked through what he described as the “tremendous” accomplishments of his first year in office.

“This is the capper,” Trump said of the tax package, using his last moments of the year in the White House to sign the bill before flying to Florida for the holidays. He also signed a temporary spending bill to keep the government running and provide money to upgrade U.S. missile defences.

But the tax cut was at the top of Trump’s mind after months of struggling to deliver his agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress. Trump on Friday thanked the absent GOP leaders and called the bill “something I’m very proud of.”

Then, with no legislators on hand, he offered to distribute pens from his signing event to reporters assembled in the Oval Office. Clearly feeling some end-of-year cheer, the president who loves to decry “fake news” gave reporters and camera crews credit for “working very hard.”