Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff

President Donald Trump got out of Washington late Friday after spinning heads over his signing the controversial $1.3-trillion Omnibus Spending Bill — just as 800,000 protesters descended on the nation’s capitol Saturday to protest gun violence in the United States of America. Millions more protested in cities across the nation in a dazzling display of coordination using social media to communicate with the youth of today and they showed up.

More than anything else, President Trump’s frustration was quite evident with the U.S. Congress for passing another 6-month government funding bill packed with back-room “pork-barrel” spending that he felt forced to sign in order to avoid a messy government shutdown, fund the military with a long-overdue pay raise and keep America on the move.

The U.S. Congress also gave themselves a raise plus China got $15-million in “developmental funds,” women law enforcement officers in Afghanistan received $10-million, Planned Parenthood got $500-million, Lebanon got $12-million for scholarships, $20-million went to a “Middle East Partnership,” the Vietnam military took in $12-million and don’t forget Laos got $3.5-million for “nutritional assistance,” according to spending bill critic Ky. Sen. Rand Paul (R).

“As a matter of National Security I’ve signed the Omnibus Spending Bill. I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again … To prevent the omnibus situation from ever happening again, I’m calling on Congress to give me a line-item veto for all government spending bills,” said President Trump during a press conference Friday. “And the Senate must end – they must end – the filibuster rule (requiring a 60-vote majority) and get down to work.”

Presidents desiring line-item veto is nothing new. In recent memory Presidents Ronald Reagan (1986) and Bill Clinton (1995) both clamored for line-item veto. In 1996, the U.S. Congress granted Clinton the authority to remove certain budget items and leave the rest alone. He used it 82 times before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 ruled the Line-Item Veto Act of 1996 to be unconstitutional, according to Wikipedia.

No matter how much President Trump wants line-item veto, it appears only possible through amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but it sure is easy to see why he wants it. This spending bill that President Trump signed — while holding his nose — is further proof why the voters have little or no confidence in the U.S. Congress, whose approval ratings remain in the basement. Look what they just did with hard-earned U.S. taxpayer dollars.

President Trump said this type ‘pork-barrel spending’ bill is the last one he’ll sign during his time in office. This entire issue will be revisited in September, only two-months prior to the mid-term elections in November — as this bill only funded the government for six-months. You can be sure the president will shut down the government, maybe for weeks, just before the mid-term elections and fight it out with the U.S. Congress over irresponsible spending. There’s more political payout for President Trump in September than now.

Between now and then it would be quite possible for the Trump’s Treasury Department to slow walk all of these out-of-country give-a-way payments and Planned Parenthood’s half-a-billion bucks – just don’t issue the checks – let them sue. The nation is already in debt to the tune of more than $21-trillion. It’s time to cut down the money tree.

The only one coming out smelling like a rose in all this spending controversy is President Trump – who is rightly calling out the U.S. Congress – Democrats and Republicans — over another ‘business-as-usual-pork-barrel-spending-bill’ – something that Trump campaigned against – so this is the end.

Saturday’s ‘March For Our Lives’ nationwide protests spotlighting gun violence were indeed impressive to say the least. The slaughter of 14 high schools students and three adults in February in Florida was the catalyst for America’s youth to hit the streets and let their voice be heard. Veteran news reporters compare these latest protests to those of the nationwide 1960s & 1970s anti-Vietnam War protests.

The young speakers seemed focused on gun violence and not turning the protests into another anti-Trump march. A highlight came when 9-year-old Yolanda Renee King – granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. – took the stage in Washington, back-dropped by the Capitol building, and spoke with smiling confidence that this anti-gun-violence movement will continue.

“I have a dream that enough is enough and that this should be a gun-free world, period,” Yolanda told a national TV audience. “Spread the word! Have you heard? All across the nation, we are to be a great generation.”

It’s interesting to note that while Miss King spoke, she and the thousands of others, were being protected by hundreds of police and National Guard troops – all good guys with guns – lots of guns.

Over the past few decades thousands upon thousands of innocent people – men, women and children – have been killed or maimed for life because of gun violence. You can spout off statistics all day long and go on and on about the National Rifle Association, congressional inaction to tighten gun laws and the 2nd Amendment. But guns are out-of-control in the USA and they have been for a very long time. Across America everyday blood still flows in the streets from guns and that’s why all those kids took to the streets in protest — and they will be back – right after the next mass shooting.

One little girl – perhaps about 10-years-old — was photographed in Washington holding a sign that read “Am I Next?”

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.