By Sarah D. Wire and Jennifer Haberkorn
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump will sign a government spending bill that doesn’t fund his border wall, but then will issue a national emergency declaration at the same time to pull money for wall construction from other parts of the federal budget.
“President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action — including a national emergency — o ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border and secure our great country.”
The president’s decision, first announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., cleared the way for the Senate to vote on the spending bill, which must be passed by midnight Friday to avert another shutdown. Many senators were reluctant to vote until Trump clearly stated his intention to sign the bill.
The House is expected to vote Thursday evening. With Trump’s support, the measure is expected to pass both chambers.
The bipartisan deal will fund a large chunk of the federal government and provide $1.375 billion for border barriers, but nothing for a wall, which was one of Trump’s main campaign promises in 2016. Back then he promised Mexico would pay for it.
National emergency declarations are usually limited to sanctioning foreign threats or dealing with a domestic crisis, like combating swine flu. Experts have called it unprecedented for a president to issue such a declaration to get funding for a project Congress has explicitly refused to fund.
Lawsuits are expected to quickly follow the president’s action. Either chamber of Congress can also force a vote on rescinding the president’s order, a move that could put Republicans in a tough position.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said he expects a swift response from Democrats.
“I hope he won’t. That would be a very wrong thing to do and (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi and I will be responding to that in short order,” Schumer said.
Pelosi, D-Calif., called the emergency declaration “an end run around Congress,” but declined to get into specifics on how Democrats would respond.
Some Democrats have floated the idea of filing a legal challenge, arguing that the president is usurping Congress’ power to appropriate money. Pelosi wouldn’t commit to that Thursday.
“We will review our options and I’m not prepared to give any preference” to any single one, she said. “Republicans should have some dismay about the door they are opening.”
Some Republicans have discouraged Trump from declaring a national emergency, worried that a future Democratic president might use the same strategy to get funding for a liberal priority, such as climate change.
But several Senate Republicans praised the idea after the White House announcement.
“I’ve said all along that I thought what we did (in the bill) was Step 1 and he had statutory powers” to make the declaration, said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who spoke with Trump shortly before McConnell made the announcement. “The president was positive” about the spending bill, Shelby said. “He knows this is a year at a time, a step at a time.”
Republicans hope that public support for border security will buoy support for the emergency declaration.
“Democrats’ refusal to negotiate has rendered Congress inept at doing its job to protect Americans,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on Twitter. “At this point POTUS is absolutely right to use constitutional executive action authority to build the wall and secure our border. This is a national emergency. I fully support him.”
