Trump to Sign Funding Bill: Avoids Shutdown to Declare Wall National Emergency

Our base, Mitch: Keep them in line no matter the cost

(Tyrant-in-the-Making and His Senate Lackey)

Today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Trump has indicated he's prepared to sign the government funding bill to avoid another shutdown, and then he will issue a national emergency on the border. 

This comprise measure keeps departments running through the fiscal year but without the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for the border wall with Mexico.

From Reuters (via Yahoo news): The Republican-led Senate backed the bill, which would provide over $300 billion for several government departments and agencies, by a vote of 83-16. It now goes to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which is also expected to pass it.

Note: Trump says he will take money he wants for the wall from other agencies. BUT, he cannot take money that Congress has already appropriated w/o House approval – that is the law. 

Details here from The AP (via MSN) Fact Check: Declaring emergency for wall not as ordinary as Trump says 

My Insert: If he tries this will set up a constitutional crisis as never before.

SPECIFICS:

TRUMP SAYS: “You know, we already have national emergencies out there. You know, President Obama, President Clinton, President Bush — they've declared many national — this is not unique. They've declared many national emergencies. Many, many.” — Trump remarks at a Cabinet meeting.

FACTS: Emergency declarations by Obama, Bush, and Clinton were overwhelmingly for the purpose of addressing crises that emerged abroad. Andrew Boyle a national security attorney at the Brennan Center says: “It's extremely rare for a president to declare a national emergency in a bid to fund domestic construction projects, particularly one that Congress has explicitly refused to fund. The ones that former presidents declared are of a different sort.”

Now that Congress is unwilling to give Trump anything close to the $5.7 billion he wants to build a portion of the border wall, the White House has made clear that he will seek money from other sources, whether with an emergency declaration or by other means.

FYI: Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, Bush, 13, and Obama, 12.   

The Brennan Center tracked 58 emergency declarations back to 1978, of which 31 remain in effect.

Specifically:

1. Obama's emergency declarations were aimed at blocking property of “certain persons involved in crises abroad: the Ukraine, Burundi, Venezuela, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Yemen, and Libya, among others. He also used the declarations to punish the Russian government and transnational organizations. His only declaration not centered on foreign interests came in 2009, when he declared a national emergency to deal with the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Bush and Clinton were similarly focused on foreign crises in their declarations and only on these domestic crisis events:

2. Clinton used one to prohibit transactions with the Taliban in 1999.

3. Bush issued several in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

My 2 cents: Trump is way off the mark on this like a spoiled little boy with this attitude: I can’t get my way so I’ll harm everyone and everything around me.

“Art of Con” seems that is Trump’s ace up his sleeve play – but, he is apt to get a big surprise.

This is a huge subject and one that could spell the end of our democratic processes of separation of powers, three equal branches of government, and checks and balances. So, stay tuned. 

Thanks for stopping by.