The majority leader in the US Senate Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday evening that President Donald Trump would soon declare a national emergency, empowering him to build a wall on the Mexican border without congressional approval.
Senator McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he spoke with the president in the afternoon who told him that he will also sign a bill that averts another government shutdown. “I am prepared to vote for it,” he added.
This simple statement on the Senate floor, sets “a hugely important precedent on the relationship between the legislative and executive branches,” CNN observed.
The emergency will allow the chief executive to tap into funds already allocated by Congress for other purposes to bridge the gap between the funding for his border wall.
Congress has authorised the executive to use $1.38 billion to build the wall but the administration says it needs $5.7bn for this purpose.
Minutes before Senator McConnell’s announcement, the Senate voted 83-16 to advance the spending package in anticipation of final passage on Thursday night by the House of Representatives. Democrats control the House.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later told journalists that President Trump will sign the government funding bill but “he will also take other executive action — including a national emergency — to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.”
Signing the bill will effectively end a two-month war of attrition between the president and Congress that closed much of the federal government for 35 days. But the declaration of emergency “could instigate a new constitutional clash over who controls the federal purse,” the New York Times noted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said they were “reviewing options” for responding to Mr. Trump’s anticipated declaration and could also take legal actions to prevent him from transferring money from other funds.
