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| President Donald Trump |
President Donald Trump is preparing to sign the
bipartisan funding bill pending in Congress and then declare a national
emergency to build the border wall within Mexico border, the White House
announced Thursday afternoon.
ABC News has learned the president plans to
announce on Friday his intention to spend about $8 billion on the border wall
with a mix of spending from Congressional appropriations approved Thursday
night, executive action and an emergency declaration.
A senior White House official familiar with the plan told ABC News that
$1.375 billion would come from the spending bill Congress passed Thursday; $600
million would come from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund; $2.5
billion would come from the Pentagon's drug interdiction program; and through
an emergency declaration: $3.5 billion from the Pentagon's military
construction budget.
The announcement was met with sharp criticism
from the Democrats side, immediately after the announcement, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi in brief remarks after the White House announcement warned that a future
Democratic president could use the precedent of declaring a national emergency
for other purposes, such as gun control, citing the anniversary of the Parkland,
Fla., mass shooting that left 17 dead.
“Because if the president can declare an
emergency on something that he’s created as an emergency, an illusion he wants
to convey, just think what a president with different values could present to
the American people,” said Pelosi. “You want to talk about a national
emergency? Let's talk about today. The one-year anniversary of another
manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America. That's a national
emergency. Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you
would. But a Democratic president can do that. A Democratic president can
declare emergencies as well.”
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| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi |
The announcement was also received with support
from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who also announced his support for
the national emergency declaration, he announced the plan on the Senate floor
shortly before the White House confirmed it, said he had spoken to Trump and
“indicated to him that I’m going to support the national emergency
declaration.”
But Ann Coulter, the conservative provocateur
whose opposition helped persuade the president to kill an earlier compromise
deal, leading to the five-week government shutdown that ended last month, was
not as pleased. “There’s no coming back from this,” she said. “No ‘emergency’
or presidential powers will allow him to build the wall, ever, after he signs
this bill. Trump has just agreed to fully open borders.”
Some prominent Republicans also criticized the
Trump’s plan to declare a national emergency. “It would be a pretty dramatic
expansion of how this was used in the past," said Sen. Ron Johnson of
Wisconsin. “It’s a bad idea,” said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
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| Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell |
Pelosi has the option of triggering a vote on
Trump’s declaration, forcing Republicans to go on the record about whether or not
they support the emergency wall. Asked if she would file a legal challenge to
the emergency declaration, she responded, “I may.”
An emergency declaration would allow Trump to
divert funds appropriated for other purposes to build the wall. Trump has said
he would shift the money from “far less important” government programs, with
many speculating it will be through the Department of Defence.
Yahoo reports that “even if the emergency
declaration is upheld, actually building the wall could face legal challenges
from landowners along the border whose property would need to be acquired”. The
White House has cited a “humanitarian crisis” at the border as the basis for
declaring an emergency, but it’s unclear exactly what that refers to. Trump has
mentioned a variety of justifications, including groups of migrants seeking
asylum, drug and human trafficking and crimes committed by undocumented
immigrants.
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