Trump ready to declare emergency to get wall
Move by US president to secure extra funds for Us-mexico barrier will face barrage of legal challenges
Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to find extra funds to build his Mexico border wall, the most senior Republican in the US Senate announced yesterday. Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate leader, said that Mr Trump had pledged to sign a compromise deal that would provide more than $1 billion for barriers along the border but would also go one step further by “issuing a national emergency declaration”, to give him extra powers to secure extra funds.
DONALD TRUMP will declare a national emergency to find extra funds to build his Mexico border wall, the most senior Republican in the US Senate announced yesterday, setting up the prospect of a new court battle.
Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate leader, said that Mr Trump had pledged to sign a compromise deal that would provide more than $1billion for barriers along the border, but he would also go one step further.
“He also will be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I indicated to him I’m going to support the national emergency declaration,” Mr Mcconnell said.
The announcement, made on the floor of the Senate as Mr Mcconnell was seeking to secure votes for the compromise package, came as a surprise and was expected to trigger a backlash from Democrats, civil rights activists and some Republicans.
Declaring a national emergency would give Mr Trump extra powers to unilaterally move around funds, as a way of circumventing Congress.
However, the prospect of an inevitable lengthy battle in the courts and opposition from scores of Republican senators was thought to have convinced Mr Trump not to go down that path. Even Mr Mcconnell had criticised the idea publicly. However, Mr Trump had come under criticism from leading Right-wing US figures over the compromise deal.
He had demanded $5.7 billion for more than 200 miles of wall along the Us-mexico border. That led to a 35-day government shutdown before it reopened for three weeks of talks.
But the new agreement included just $1.375billion for 55 miles of a new border barrier. Furthermore, it would be fencing rather than a concrete wall.
The US Senate overwhelmingly passed the compromise spending bill yesterday and the House of Representatives was due to vote yesterday afternoon. Mr Trump must sign the bill by midnight tonight to avoid another government shutdown.
By signing the bill and declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump would both avoid another shutdown and be able to show his supporters that he is still building the border wall.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator and close confidant of the president, said: “He has all the legal authority in the world to do this and I will stand behind him.”
Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat House speaker, said that she might launch a legal challenge, saying: “It is not an emergency, what is happening at the border.”
She also appeared to question whether Mr Trump was overstepping his powers.
In a statement confirming the move. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: “The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border and secure our great country.”
National emergencies have been declared 58 times since the laws were reformed in 1976, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, but none of those occasions was over spending that Congress would not grant.
The move theoretically opens up at least 123 different powers that a president could use, according to experts. But each one has a tight legal definition that Mr Trump would have to meet.