Trump will declare national emergency as he signs watered-down wall funding bill
RT,
14 February, 2019
President Donald Trump will sign a spending bill that denies him funding for a border wall, but averts another government shutdown. Trump will also declare a national emergency, allowing him to bypass Congress and build the wall.
14 February, 2019
President Donald Trump will sign a spending bill that denies him funding for a border wall, but averts another government shutdown. Trump will also declare a national emergency, allowing him to bypass Congress and build the wall.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday that Trump will sign the bill, but “will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.”
The bill allocates just $1.3 billion for a barrier along the US-Mexico border – a drastically lower amount than originally requested by the president. It also explicitly prohibits a concrete wall, and includes a number of concessions to Democrats, such as amnesty for illegal immigrants in the US with unaccompanied minors, a ban on wall construction in several national parks, and no funding for hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Ahead of the signing, many of Trump’s supporters rubbished the deal, urging the President not to sign it.
This bill must NOT be signed by @realDonaldTrump.
This bill is horrible. @realDonaldTrump should not sign it, and he should meet with the Angel Families today to hear what they want.
We needed $25 billion plus fix of catch and release. Trump demands $5.6 billion with no policy changes. Dems say only $1.6 billion. So we call it a day at $1.375 billion plus making policy worse.
The emergency declaration, however, allows Trump to divert funds from other parts of the government to fund the wall without Congressional approval. Trump hinted on Tuesday that he already has $23 billion in funding lined up “from other sources.”
....Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security. Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!
46.8K people are talking about this
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that declaring a national emergency would set a dangerous precedent. "Republicans should have some dismay about the door they are opening, the threshold they are crossing,” she said, adding that Democrats may meet the declaration with legal challenges.
An executive order may be overturned in Congress, but to do so would take two-thirds majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, something the Democrats lack. Unless Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can convince enough Republicans to cross the aisle, the courts may be the only recourse available to the Democrats.
“We’re very prepared” for legal challenges, Press Secretary Sanders told reporters, adding that “there shouldn’t be” any. “The president’s doing his job. Congress should do theirs.”
The final text of the nearly 1,200 page spending bill was released on Wednesday evening, leaving lawmakers less than 24 hours to read its contents, let alone debate and amend it.
Failure to sign the bill would see another government shutdown begin on Friday, something that lawmakers on both sides are keen to avoid. The last partial shutdown, which ended on January 25, cost the US economy somewhere between $6 and $11 billion, and saw Trump’s approval rating drop from 48 to 43 percent.
US Senate approves spending bill to avoid government shutdown
RT,
14 February, 2019
The US Senate has passed a spending and border security bill, averting a second government shutdown. Lacking the funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, the bill opens the door to Trump declaring a national emergency.
The bill is expected to be passed by the Democrat-controlled House and from there moves to the White House. While Trump is expected to sign it, the president has made it clear he will declare a national emergency to get the funding for his wall. The bill provides just $1.375 billion for fencing at the US-Mexico border, a far cry from the $5.7 billion Trump requested.
The spending bill passed the Senate with a vote of 83-16 on Thursday. It also provides over $22 billion for “border security initiatives,” including upgraded technology at ports of entry, assistance for illegal immigrants apprehended crossing the border, and more border patrol hires. It will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year and provide a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal workers, as well as a $1 billion increase in funding for the Census Bureau.
Both parties have framed the bill as a victory. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced his approval of Trump’s decision to use a national emergency to requisition more money for his wall, and Republicans pointed to the addition of more steel slat border fencing as a win.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill a “fair compromise,” noting they had gotten away without funding “the president’s expansive and ineffective wall.” The wall was at the heart of the impasse that caused the longest shutdown in US history, shuttering the government for almost two months as both parties refused to back down.
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