Trump news: President begrudgingly signs border bill and declares national emergency at US-Mexico border
President predicts lengthy legal battle over national emergency reaching all the way to Supreme Court
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the US-Mexico border without congressional approval, an action Democrats vowed to challenge as a violation of the US Constitution.
The Republican president’s move to circumvent Congress represented a new approach to making good on a 2016 presidential campaign pledge to halt the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country, whom the president says bring crime and drugs.
He also later signed a bipartisan government spending bill Congress approved on Thursday that would prevent another partial government shutdown by funding several agencies that otherwise would have closed on Saturday.
Mr Trump made no direct mention in rambling Rose Garden comments of the funding bill. It represents a legislative defeat for him since it contains no money for his proposed wall - the focus of weeks of conflict between him and Democrats in Congress.
He had demanded that Congress provide him with billions in wall funding as part of legislation to fund the agencies. That triggered a historic, 35-day December-January government shutdown that hurt the US economy and his opinion poll numbers.
By reorienting his quest for wall funding toward a legally uncertain strategy based on declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump risks plunging into a lengthy legislative and legal battle with Democrats and dividing his fellow Republicans.
At least 15 Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent Mr Trump from invoking emergency powers to transfer funds to his wall from accounts Congress has already committed to other projects.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer swiftly responded to Trump’s declaration.
“The president’s actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution,” they said in a statement. “The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.”
Reuters contributed to this report. Check out The Independent's live coverage of the president's national emergency declaration below:
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Here's a profile of Mr Barr, who, I'm sorry to inform you, is a keen competitive bagpiper.
God save America.
Slightly less important: the president is now officially obese, according to his latest physical examination.
Those Big Macs he served the Clemson Tigers beneath a disapproving portrait of Honest Abe Lincoln are evidently catching up with him.
How might the president use the powers granted by the National Emergencies Act to rake in enough wall dollars?
The administration has been eyeing several pots of money, including disaster funds, counter-narcotic accounts and military construction dollars, according to congressional aides and White House officials.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says there are various accounts available.
One possibility is shifting a portion of the $13bn (£10bn) in disaster aid Congress approved last year for Puerto Rico and a dozen states, including California and Texas, hit hard by hurricanes, flooding and other disasters. The money funds Army Corps projects and the Puerto Rico aid alone totals more than $2bn (£1.6bn).
But Texas lawmakers have revolted over White House plans to tap Hurricane Harvey funds and Republican Senator John Cornyn said on Thursday they had won assurances from the administration this would not happen.
"We've been pretty clear we thought that would be a mistake," he said. "There's limited pots of money he can get into, but I'm pretty confident he won't get into disaster funds."
A more likely option is the aforementioned military construction account that's used to upgrade bases and facilities.
Congressional aides said there is a maximum of $21bn (£16.4bn) available. That includes about $10bn (£7.8bn) in funds from the current 2019 fiscal year that ends on 30 September and $11bn (£8.6bn) remaining from the previous four years..
But tapping the military construction money also may hit resistance. The money typically goes towards improvements to housing, roads, hospitals and other facilities at home and abroad.
The president can decide to use military construction funds, but it will be up to the Defence Department to determine which specific projects would lose their money.
Another resource from the military would be its counter-drug fund, known as Section 284 money, although this would "only" garner $800m (£624m), small change in the context of the border wall.
A little more on yesterday's vote on the bill, due to be signed by President Trump today.
Four Democratic senators who have already declared their intention to run against him in 2020 opposed the new funding and security deal: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California.
Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon, did vote for it, however.
In the House, Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favour of averting another shutdown following the recent 35-day record-breaker. Of the 19 who voted against it, most were Hispanic and concerned about the wall's impact on the minority they represent.
Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language.
"Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny President Trump even a rhetorical victory.
This morning, President Trump is expected to speak on border security from the White House Rose Garden.
It is understood he will announce an initial $8bn (£6.4bn) investment on border barriers - combining the $1.4bn (£1.1bn) approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose from elsewhere through executive actions.
Here's Chuck Schumer attempting to ensure the president doesn't have a last minute change of heart.
Declaring a national emergency would be "a very wrong thing to do", the New Yorker says.
More trolling, from Speaker Pelosi...
Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello...
...And chairman of the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff.
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