Trump to push case in prime-time
President ramps up efforts with speech and visit to border
US President Donald Trump is ramping up his efforts to make a public case for his border wall as the partial government shutdown is now in its third week, planning a prime-time address today and a visit to the border on Friday.
The presidential speech and visit come amid the partial government shutdown and Trump’s insistence that any funding bill to reopen federal agencies include US$5.7 billion for his border wall.
Ahead of Trump’s speech from the Oval Office, Vice-President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will meet House Republicans on Capitol Hill to discuss the border situation.
Pence told reporters that Trump has invited Democrats back to the White House this week for further talks.
“Our position is very simply this: There is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the southern border,” Pence said. He added that the White House has “been negotiating to open the government and address that border crisis” as well as “taking steps to mitigate the effects of the shutdown.”
Some Democrats responded to the news of Trump’s address with concern that he would mislead the American people about the situation at the border.
“I expect the President to lie to the American people,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said.
“Why do I expect this? Because he has been lying to the American people.” Trump made his first visit to the border as president 10 months ago. During that trip, Trump toured 9m-tall steel and concrete prototypes of the border wall in California.
If Trump declares a national emergency to force the military to build the wall, the Pentagon may have to figure out which military construction projects around the world to cancel, pare back or put on hold in order to free up money for the initiative.
The law that authorises the defence secretary to order military building projects in the event of a national emergency requires the Pentagon to draw upon funds that Congress has already appropriated for military construction. The result is that the Administration potentially could have to claw back money from projects Congress has debated and funded.
During a visit last month to US troops in Iraq, Trump said his Administration next year would spend even more than the US$716 billion it is spending on the military this year.
The President’s suggestion that he can build the wall by declaring a national emergency would likely hinge on a section of the US Code governing the military. Section 2808 gives the defence secretary the authority to undertake military construction projects “not otherwise authorised by law” to support any troops
deployed in a national emergency requiring the use of the armed forces.
The law limits the spending in such cases. The Pentagon can draw upon only the money that Congress has appropriated for military construction projects but which has yet to be committed by contract to projects. These are known as unobligated funds. According to a congressional aide, there is about US$10 billion left in unobligated funds for military construction in the current financial year’s defence budget, in addition to US$13 billion that has rolled over from previous years. The money, however, has been appropriated for specific projects.