The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Declares Emergency, Plans to Allot Billions in Additional Wall Funds.
President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over border security, bypassing Congress in an effort to divert money from elsewhere in the government to pay for the construction of additional barriers along the southern U.S. border.
In remarks at the White House, Mr. Trump defended the actions as critical to national security. “We’re talking about an invasion of our country,” he said. At another point, however, he suggested an emergency declaration wasn’t necessary. “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he was satisfied with the non-barrier funding, even suggesting it might be too much. “I don’t know what to do with all the money they are giving us. It’s crazy.”
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Friday that the president would seek to divert about $6.7 billion from elsewhere in the government to build 234 miles of steel bollard wall.
Included in that will be $2.5 billion that Mr. Trump will divert from the Department of Defense’s counterdrug efforts, $600 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund and $3.6 billion from military-construction efforts, Mr. Mulvaney said. The military-construction bucket can only be accessed through an emergency declaration.
In the 1970s, Congress passed the National Emergencies Act, a measure that placed limits on presidential discretion. Among other provisions, it allows Congress to terminate an emergency declaration.
Dissent From Both Sides
“The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in a joint statement. “The Congress cannot let the President shred the Constitution.”
“I don’t think that this is a matter that should be declared a national emergency,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said.
Question of the Day
If you didn’t need to do this, is it an emergency?
Trump seriously needs to watch what he is saying. The courts might very well rule on that self-admission.
Trump said he anticipated that he would be sued. “We will possibly get a bad ruling. And then we’ll get another bad ruling. And then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court and hopefully we’ll get a fair shake,” he said.
What if you declare upfront that it wasn’t really an emergency? This will be interesting.
Meanwhile, As Expected …
Our next President should declare a #NationalEmergency on day 1 to address the existential threat to all life on the planet posed by Climate Change.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 15, 2019
That Tweet is growing by hundreds of likes every minute.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
A pretty surefire hint one is indeed living in a totalitarian dystopia, is when what a gaggle of privileged clowns “declare”, “hold”, “deem”, “judge”, “find” and “decide”, suddenly take on great importance for the lives of others…..
Trump should not have agreed to sign the appropriations bill. He should just veto and shut down the government again. We don’t need a national government – we have too much state and local government. I’d gladly give up SS to get rid of the US government.
The temporary suspension of the debt ceiling (credit limit) is expiring soon.
As a side note, the power to appropriate tax monies is NOT an explicit power of Congress. It is only an IMPLIED power – implied by the explicit power to tax and do things like ‘provide and maintain a navy’.
“His 4d chess went 2 dimensional. The spending bill he signed (to get a billion) was rife with legislation that weaken current immigration law (dems, who want the votes)and the repubs (who got expansion of H1BI visa’s – cheap labor)”
I believe that is the position of Coulter
Coulter said “it is all over” on radio and called Trump’s funding bill signing “total capitulation”.
Read my reply to thimk below if you want to know the details how crappy the funding bill Trump signed is.
“existential threat to all life on the planet posed by climate change”
Democrats are totally INSANE.
They should be ASHAMED to scare children like this!
Climate Change is a challenge IF it is happening like IPCC claims based on the studies they CHOSE for their report.
Problem with Climate Change studies is that they do NOT use RAW temperature data but instead “adjust” it and the adjustments are always upwards since their theories say so.
Then they just INVENT temperatures for large parts of earth in places where there is NO measuring stations.
On top of this measuring stations are moved and have been moved for tens of years so there is no comparable data (different places have different temperatures based on terrain) and they have also changed the date of time they measure the temperature (different times of day have a different temperature) and then there is the urban heat island effect (more buildings and more roads and parking lots increase the temperature since they heat up in the sun and then release that heat more than the grassy field there was before development).
Some days I wonder whether climate change is the biggest Groupthink in the history of humans.
It’s an exaggeration, but certainly there’s a risk of mass extinctions. Since we still depend on fisheries for much of our food and insects for pollination in agriculture, and because our aquifers are running dry, it’s a problem. I don’t like the phrase ‘directionally accurate’, but it seems to define US politics these days. People are too busy fighting from pole to pole to think about nuances.
Also: Satellite measurements. They don’t help with historical data, but they give us a clear picture. We can track many things, including polar ice and CO2 emission and absorption by location and season.
“Our next President should declare a #NationalEmergency on day 1 to address the existential threat to all life on the planet posed by Climate Change.”
Climate change is not an existential threat to all life on the planet. Climate has been changing for eons and life has thrived. Ironically, Omar is supporting Trump’s authority to declare a national emergency, by her comment.
Life’s been set back hard by climate change a few times, the most famous example being the global cooling which ended the dominance of the dinosaurs. The first time life on Earth was mostly annihilated by climate change was when the atmosphere first gained an oxygen component, oxygen was toxic to almost everything living at the time.
Omar’s comment shows why abuse of power is a bad thing–because it goes both ways, sooner or later. I hope most people reading it see it that way.
One more time: Bring back the temporary worker program. Perp walk CEOs on second hire of anyone not in that program and lacking a valid Social Security number, easily confirmed in E-verify.
Legalize dope and ostracize the users by issuing Federal requirement that all businesses conducting business with the Federal government implement mandatory drug testing. Require rehab, followed by termination on second offense for anything stronger than pot.
The prospect of going home to the wife and kids with no job will get most off dope quickly. The remainder can be issued needles and provided cheap dope and left to rot on welfare.
Both problems solved, (illegals and dope) no walls needed.
If I were president for a day, I’d use executive Emergency power to declare a national emergency and lay this at the feet of congress for their next catfight. I’d love to see the beltway gang, both parties, telling the electorate that there really isn’t either an illegal immigration problem OR a drug problem. Maybe the outrage and revulsion generated would create a critical mass of support for a third party big enough to get the country out of the polarized ditch it’s in.
Eat a moon pie. Jump up and say “time fo’ mo’!” Then head downtown and dance the jiggy all night. Its a blast!
President Ocasio declares national emergency to take all our gunss and 80% of your paycheck for socialist programs. Im seriously cosidering moving out of the US. It will most likely be to a ****hole but at least I won’t have to watch this place turn into one.
There is NO “border shall NOT be WALLED” amendment in the Constitution but there is a “shall NOT be INFRINGED” amendment regarding guns so guns can NOT be taken with an emergency declaration.
That is just a Democrat talking point to rile up the Democrat rubes.
On Climate Change Democrat president could maybe use an emergency declaration to ban cow farts, flights, meat eating and cars but if Democrats run with that before an election they will lose 40+ states…
President Fox News Grandpa can’t watch what he’s saying… he’s got dementia that makes him blurt the truth he’s trying to conceal.
“The swamp already owns almost everything.”
I have a post in mind about that
Trump Whitehouse is filled with swamp creatures like Koch Brothers lobbyists whose goal is continued open borders and mass amnesty and Trump is too stupid to realize it…
Sechel, this is not just about the emergency, it is about diverting funds – That is supposed to be Congressional duty.
There will be two challenges, not one
Forfeiture funds can be used as President decides and Drug smuggling prevention funds can be used to build wall to prevent drug smuggling.
The only semi-viable court challenge is the emergency declaration and that is only because Trump stated “I didn’t need to do this”
Obama, Bush and Clinton had emergency declarations for whatever…
Wall will be an economic boom,good jobs,welders,steel workers,steel fab,machinists not the non stop monthly p/t bartenders,security/prison guard, GOV’T ,pizza delivery,telemarketing the economy has been producing decade.
Non constructive construction is just that. Bridges to nowhere. Throwing good money….eh, borrowing ****tons of money, to build something that serves no purpose is incredibly destructive and wasteful. That money used for the wall was money taken away from some other endeavor. Posting such moronic drivel on an economic blog is comedic at best, but mostly just sad.
obama created DACA ignoring federal law, ignored federal law on marriage, invaded two countries (Syria and Libya), signed 10 National Emergency Declarations, gave billions to the Iranians, appointed czars, droned killed American citizens, bankrupted entire industries, destroyed 100 years of contract laws in auto bailouts, etc. etc., etc…..all without one vote in Congress.
Not one Pelosi/Schumer joint televised news conference looking disappointed.
Obama gave Iran their own money back, something that was long overdue. If somebody froze billions in US assets for decades and refused to give them back, you would howl for their blood.
Don’t worry, some of those returned funds undoubtedly went to stabilizing Syria, something neither Obama nor Trump (nor our corrupt Uniparty) wanted.
So let me see if I understand your logic.
Obama can just “give” billions of US dollars controlled by the United States Government without any oversight, vote or permission from Congress. To a foreign state that sponsors terrorism. This is perfectly fine.
But if Trump shifts money from one US government project to another project on US soil to enhance the level of US security – it is a constitutional crisis and he has no authority. And must stopped at all costs.
Got it.
How on earth did you get that out of my post? You’re always projecting in an effort to pretend there is some vast difference between our two corrupt parties. I even specified the Uniparty in my post wrt Syria. I hope the RNC pays you, it would be sad if you wasted time trolling for free.
Someday you’ll join the rest of us in reality and acknowledge that the swamp doesn’t care whether you’re wearing red or blue.