Budget deal sent to president
Trump expected to fund wall through other means
WASHINGTON — Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited — this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.
Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed to build a wall along the Mexican boundary and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act on his own to get the rest, a move that prompted immediate condemnation from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.
The uproar over what Trump would do next cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship in Congress to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.
The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly on board. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trump's signature planned Friday.
Both margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes, though one wasn't
expected and lawmakers sometime back a president of the same party in such battles.
In the Oklahoma delegation, voting for the bill were: Sens. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City; and Reps. Tom Cole, R-Norman; Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma City; and Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne.
Voting against were Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa; and Reps. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa; and Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville.
“I've been saying this from the beginning,” Inhofe said, “we need to seriously strengthen our border security to block the smuggling of illegal drugs and people. Real reforms must be made to our immigration process. This bill falls short of that goal. Instead of a real investment in the wall, it gives the president less than the original budget request and far less than Customs and Border Patrol agents say we need.”
Lankford said, “In addition to the vital provisions on border security fencing, the bill funds new immigration judges, increases border security agents and maintains ICE's ability to detain individuals who do not have legal status. The Democrats fought hard to restrict ICE's ability to enforce key immigration laws, but the final negotiated bill demonstrates our commitment to the important work of ICE agents.”
Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh
closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take “other executive action, including a national emergency,”
In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be “a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract” from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.
Pelosi and Schumer also said “Congress will defend our constitutional authorities.” They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they would wait to see what he does.
Democratic state attorneys general said they would consider legal action to block Trump.
The abrupt announcement of Trump's plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president — who'd strongly hinted he'd sign the agreement but never definitively — was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to seek heavenly help.