Trump threat of national emergency
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump yesterday ramped up his brinkmanship saying he was considering declaring a national emergency, a move that would escalate a policy dispute with Democrats over his proposed USMexico border wall into a legal test of his presidential powers.
To escape a political trap of his own making, Trump suggested strongly yesterday he might declare an emergency so he could bypass Congress to get funding for his wall.
Democrats Congress oppose funding the wall, calling it an ineffective, outdated answer to a complex problem. The standoff has left a quarter of the federal government closed down and hundreds of thousands of federal employees staying home on furlough or working for no pay.
The shutdown enters its 21st day today and will become the United States’ longest such shutdown tomorrow.
With no compromise in sight, Trump publicly ruminated yesterday during a trip to the Texas border about declaring an emergency.
‘‘We can declare a national emergency. We shouldn’t have to,’’ he told reporters. ‘‘This is just common sense.’’
A close Trump confidant judged the time for such a step had come. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement: ‘‘It is time for President Trump to use emergency powers to fund the construction of a border wall/barrier. I hope it works.’’
The Wall Street Journal, NBC and the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported the White House had asked the US Army Corps of Engineers to look into diverting money from its budget towards the wall and to explore how fast construction
in could begin under an emergency declaration.
Critics of the national emergency strategy have said it could be illegal. It is almost certain to trigger an immediate court challenge from Democrats. That would allow the Government to be fully reopened while the judges weigh the case, which could take months.
‘‘After the emergency announcement, the path toward construction via executive order may be as unclear as a storm at midnight. But it will at least allow the president to move out of the corner he’s boxed himself into,’’ said Charles Gabriel, analyst strategy firm Capital Alpha Partners.
Trump yesterday cancelled a planned visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month, signalling he was prepared for the showdown to stretch into late January.
An emergency declaration would come with risks. Even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have signalled worries about such an action. Given that the Constitution gives Congress the power to set spending priorities and appropriate money, they worry about a tough legal fight and an unwise precedent.
Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who has had good relations with Trump, said declaring a national emergency would be ‘‘wrong, but I think that’s his only way out’’.
While some Republican senators clamoured for an end to the shutdown, party leaders toeing Trump’s line this week ignored passage in the Democraticcontrolled House of Representatives of funding Bills for government agencies.
The House is expected to pass more such Bills today. — Reuters
at