New plan for Trump wall
PRESIDENT WANTS ‘EMERGENCY’ TO GET THE FUNDS TO BUILD IT Congress challenge to presidential use of Act is likely be passed.
President Donald Trump was set to declare a “national emergency” yesterday to help fund hundreds of kilometres of wall on the southern border to prevent migrants from crossing into the US illegally from Mexico.
The White House said Trump would also sign a spending Bill to avert a government shutdown, but which only provides $1.375 billion (R19.4 billion) for border barriers – far from the $5.7 billion he wanted.
Trump has for months played with the idea of declaring a national emergency, which would free up federal money, citing what the administration calls a “crisis” at the border. But trying to build a wall this way would face significant legal challenges.
The National Emergencies Act (NEA) allows the president to declare a national emergency, providing a specific reason for it. That then allows the mobilisation of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws. But the powers are not unlimited and can be blocked by Congress and the courts.
During the Korean War in 1952, then president Harry Truman sought to take over US steel factories to keep them producing in the face of a strike. Steel companies took the case to the Supreme Court, which said the president’s emergency powers did not allow seizure of privately owned plants to avert a strike.
Every recent president has used the NEA, and more than two dozen states of emergency are renewed annually. George W Bush invoked it after the September 11, 2001, attacks to expand the military and to conduct secret surveillance.
Barack Obama used it to declare an emergency in 2009 over the swine flu threat, giving authorities and hospitals extra powers to act quickly.
Most often, the NEA was used against other countries. One NEA emergency in place since 1979 restricted trade with Iran. Another, from 2006, blocks property of people undermining democracy in Belarus.
If Trump declared an emergency, he could deploy more manpower to the border. But to build a wall he would have to find billions of dollars. One emergency law permits the president to order “military construction projects” using funds in the military budget. But could the wall be called a “military” project?
There are strong restrictions on US military funding being used for non-defence purposes, though emergency laws at times permit it. Also, building the wall would require taking control of privately-owned land on the border, which would result in legal battles.
The NEA gives Congress the right to challenge a presidential emergency declaration and it would likely be passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. “It’s not an emergency,” House Leader Nancy Pelosi said. “We will ... respond appropriately.” – AFP
It’s not an emergency. We will respond appropriately