Susan Collins Chimes In
“Declaring a national emergency is a mistake.”
Political Emergency
The Wall Street Journal editorial board comments on Trump’s Political Emergency
The emergency declaration will please his most ardent supporters, but Mr. Trump is setting an unfortunate precedent—and judges could tie up his wall in court for years.
Mr. Trump had little choice other than to sign the spending bill or see the government shut down for the second time in a month. He boxed himself in by saying in December that he’d gladly take ownership of a shutdown, only to discover that his poll numbers fell further the longer the January closure went on.
Republicans in Congress bailed him out by getting at least $1.38 billion for border funding, enough for about 55 miles of fencing. Mr. Trump is grousing that Senate Republicans were out-negotiated, but they had to play the bad hand he dealt them. He should be grateful because he blundered into the shutdown with bluster but no strategy.
Yet rather than declare partial victory and fight again in the next budget, Mr. Trump will now test the limits of his executive power. The White House hasn’t released the details of its legal justification. But it’s likely he will employ the National Emergencies Act of 1976 so he can move funds previously appropriated for other purposes to build his wall. This looks to us like a misuse of the emergency power delegated by Congress, which is meant for genuine security crises, not to fulfill a campaign promise.
We’ve argued that Mr. Trump might win his emergency gambit if the case goes to the Supreme Court, but it is a close call and he is taking a big legal risk. Property owners affected by the wall will sue, and the House of Representatives will surely sue as well on grounds that Mr. Trump is usurping its constitutional power of the purse. House Republicans set that precedent with their important and successful lawsuit against President Obama on ObamaCare funding.
Constitutional conservatives should also worry if Mr. Trump wins in court. A precedent will be set that future Presidents could use to impose their own priorities despite a reluctant Congress. If climate change will end life as we know it in 12 years, why not impose part of the Green New Deal? No one believes more than we do that a President needs flexibility to move with dispatch in wartime. But the Constitution is also clear that Congress must appropriate money for public purposes.
Mr. Trump’s obsession with building a wall has caused him no end of political grief. He’ll be lucky if this emergency declaration doesn’t end the same way.
Huge Offer Rejected
Those are all arguments I have made before.
A year ago, Schumer offer Trump $20 billion for a wall. All Schumer wanted in return was a deal about dreamers.
Trump foolishly turned him down.
TTF: Totally Trump’s Fault
I commented on the proposed deal on January 28 in TTF: Totally Trump’s Fault
The alleged “master” of the Art of the Deal had a major concession for $20 billion to fund a wall.
If $7 billion can build a wall then $20 billion could build a double wall of the same height for perhaps $12 billion.
There would have been sufficient money to buy land, not steal it, one of my primary concerns.
Trump turned that offer down.
Bluster But No Strategy
The important point is the stubborn pigheadedness of a self-proclaimed master deal-maker who is all bluster and no deal.
This is seriously pathetic no matter how you slice it, no matter which side you are on.
Art of the Deal My Ass.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Oh my goodness. https://freepostagecode.co.uk
More online comments about why this “budget” bill is a super stinker. Anyone in Congress who supported this monstrosity should be voted out:
I am loving this. In 2020 when we have a Democratic president we will use this “emergency” to create national health care and far reaching climate change legislation. As part of the emergency we will remove every judge Trump ever appointed. In fact we will do whatever we want whenever we want. You will regret opening this Pandora’s box as long as you live but so what?
Any Democrat who is not concerned about their US citizenship being diluted or the long term prospects of this country should be so happy they spontaneously glow. This will put them in charge in 2020 an beyond. Not that they don’t appear to be in charge already…
DACA was found “constitutional” even though it did and continues to violate Federal Laws and spends billions of dollars a year. And will for generations.
You can’t have it both way.
“We’ve argued that Mr. Trump might win his emergency gambit if the case goes to the Supreme Court, but it is a close call and he is taking a big legal risk.”
Millions of new illegals will come to USA
thimk — read who wrote that little gem! Breitbart — purveyor of all that is terminal BS
The bill Democrats and RINO’s wrote for Trump is an incompetent mass amnesty and destruction of Trump presidency and gives Democrats a VETO on using the 1.375 billion for a wall since building is limited to Rio Grande valley area and local authorities have a VETO and they are all Democrat controlled so in essence Trump got 0 dollars for a wall and he is too stupid to realize it and Trump appears to be surrounded by Koch Brothers lobbyists actively trying to sabotage Trump
Seems like national emergencies is something that presidents since 1976 issue regularly. They mostly seem to be meaningless. So why is everyone making such a big deal of Trump declaring one more “emergency”? Let him declare his emergency. By the time the money and materials come together to be able to build Trump’s wall, he will most likely be out of office and on the road to thankfully being forgotten, except for being the worst president in history.
Here’s a list of the 31 national emergencies that have been in effect for years
Jan 10, 2019
According to the Federal Register, 58 national emergencies have been declared since the National Emergency Act of 1976 was signed into law by President Gerald Ford.
And 31 have been annually renewed and are currently still in effect, as listed in the Federal Register.
Here’s a list of the presidents who declared still ongoing national emergencies.
…..
All Trump has to do is sign the forms, use his power and defend the nation.
Its will, not politics. Build the Wall. Period.
People are acting as if Trump’s “National Emergency” is unique. Hardly: Obama declared 13 “National Emergencies”. Here are 2 of them: in 2012, Obama declared a national emergency entitled, “Blocking Property of Persons Threatening the Peace, Security, or Stability of Yemen” in order to freeze the assets of anyone perceived to be negatively impacting a political transition in Yemen, VOA reported. In 2014, the 44th president issued a national emergency referred to as “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine,” which similarly locked the assets of those thought to be undermining democratic processes in Ukraine.
What in the hell do those things have to do with an American National Emergency? But as usual the useless repubs let him do whatever he wanted.
They aren’t the same. The motivation is different. Even the editorial page of the WSJ gets it, and they are largely clueless. They are why I walk to the library to read the WSJ rather than subscribe and support them (BTW, the otherwise excellent reporting in the WSJ is tainted by their ridiculous editorials. The book “Billion Dollar Whale” was written by a couple of WSJ journalists and it is an outstanding piece of non-fiction.)
Mish, you really should just avoid politics. You’re talking outta yer arse.