WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has officially signed the Republican tax reform bill, which he claims includes the biggest tax cuts in the history of the country.
In remarks from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump indicated he originally intended to sign the bill at a ceremony in early January.
'But then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, 'Will he keep his promise? Will he sign it by Christmas?' Trump said. 'And so I immediately called, I said, let's get it ready.'
Trump touted many provisions of the massive tax reform bill, including doubling the standard deduction and the Child Tax Credit, reducing the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, and cutting taxes for small businesses.
'The bottom line is, this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country,' Trump said. 'This is bigger than, actually, President Reagan's many years ago. I'm very honored by it.'
'All of this - everything in here - is really tremendous things for businesses, for people, for the middle class, for workers,' he added. 'And I consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs.'
The president highlighted several companies such as AT&T (T) and Boeing (BA) that have announced plans to give bonuses to employees or boost investment in response to the passage of the bill.
'Corporations are literally going wild over this, I think even beyond my expectations, so far beyond my expectations,' Trump said.
Trump subsequently said he does not believe he will have to travel to sell the bill to the American people, arguing the legislation will sell itself.
'I think the corporations that are giving billions and billions of dollars away to their workers - and many more are coming - I think that's really what's selling this maybe better than anybody could, including myself,' Trump said.
He added, 'But I think come February, when they open their checks and they see, 'Wow, what happened? I have a lot more money in here' - I think that's really going to be something very special.'
Trump said he thinks Democrats will regret opposing the tax reform bill but indicated a willingness to work with lawmakers from the other side of the aisle on issues such as infrastructure.
However, Democrats continued to criticize the bill, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accusing the president of breaking the promises he made to middle class Americans during the campaign.
'Instead of focusing on the forgotten Americans, the GOP tax scam will bleed the middle class dry and explode the national debt to pad the pockets of corporate America and the wealthiest 1 percent,' Pelosi said.
Trump also signed the short-term spending bill the House and Senate passed on Thursday in order to avoid a government shutdown.
The bill funds the government until January 19th in order to give lawmakers time to negotiate a longer-term spending bill.
Trump highlighted the $4 billion for missile defense and $700 million for various other forms of military equipment included in the stopgap legislation.
Most Democrats voted against the short-term spending bill due in part to its failure to include protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in September and Democrats have repeatedly called for a fix to protect the immigrants known as Dreamers.
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