Don to declare emergency
President Trump will sign the bipartisan border security bill — and then declare a national emergency to find the money for the border wall that Congress wouldn’t give him, the White House said Thursday.
“President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action — including a national emergency — to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
A short time later, the Senate passed the measure 83-16 and the House followed Thursday night with a 300-128 vote.
The bill provides almost $1.4 billion for 55 miles of additional border fencing identical to that already in place, far less than the $5.7 billion Trump had demanded before the 35-day government shutdown that ended last month.
Trump has repeatedly said he could declare what he calls “the crisis” at the Southern border a national emergency and try to find the money elsewhere in the massive federal budget.
But the Justice Department warned the White House Thursday that Trump’s emergency declaration would likely be blocked by courts, according to ABC News.
He planned an announcement for Friday morning.
Congressional aides said the funding bill contains $21 billion in military construction funds that could potentially be used to build a wall on the border.
They claimed Trump had the authority to take the funds, but according to the law, the money must be used in support of US armed forces.
There is about $10 billion available from the current 2019 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, and another $11 billion from the previous four years that haven’t been obli- gated or contracted for a project.
The Defense Department has declined to provide any details on the amount of money available.
Democrats flatly reject the president’s description of the situation at the border, arguing that more humanitarian aid is needed and that points of entry have to be hardened.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to the pending emergency declaration by saying Trump cooked up “the crisis” to try to fulfill his signature campaign promise.
She called it “an end run” around Congress and said a legal challenge was an option.
The type of emergency action Trump is contemplating would be rare. Such declarations by Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were for the purpose of addressing crises that emerged abroad.
Many blocked foreign interests or terrorist-linked entities from access to funds. Some prohibited certain imports from or investments in countries guilty of human-rights abuses.
But Republicans said Trump is doing what he has to do.
“I would rather see it done through Congress, but the Democrats have left him no choice,” Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) said.
Democrats, including presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris of California, dismissed Trump’s proposed move as “ridiculous.”
Even some Republicans were wary of the president declaring a national emergency because of the precedent it would set.
A Democratic president, they fear, could then do the same thing on gun control or climate change.
Sanders said Trump would fight any legal challenge — and took a jab at Congress, claiming, “We’re very prepared, but there shouldn’t be [legal challenges]. The president’s doing his job. Congress should do theirs.”