U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was considering declaring a national emergency to fund his long-promised border wall with Mexico, a move that would allow him to bypass Congress to get the funding but could also spark a constitutional crisis. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he was looking at a range of options to get the wall built, including declaring a national emergency, which would give him access to billions of dollars in federal funds. “There are a lot of ways to do it,” Trump said. “You know, people are saying, ‘Is it going to be a national emergency?’ And I say, ‘Maybe, maybe not.’ But there are many ways to do it.” Trump said he had spoken to Republican senators about the possibility of including border wall funding in a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The U.S. Congress has refused to approve $5 billion in funding for the wall, which was a key campaign promise for Trump. The president has said previously that he would “be very proud” to shut down the government over the wall, and many lawmakers fear a shutdown could happen as early as this weekend. Trump’s comments came as U.S. lawmakers were racing to pass a spending bill to fund the government before a midnight Friday deadline. The White House has said that if a deal is not reached, Trump would sign a short-term spending bill to keep the government open. But Trump has repeatedly said that he will not sign any spending bill that does not include funding for his border wall. Earlier on Wednesday, a group of Republican senators, led by Senator Lindsey Graham, unveiled a plan to compromise on border security. The plan calls for $15 billion in border security funding over 10 years, including $5 billion for the wall, $3 billion for technology and $7 billion for personnel and infrastructure. Democrats have rejected the plan, saying it does not go far enough to address the humanitarian crisis at the border. The partial government shutdown that occurred in December and January lasted for 35 days and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion. Trump’s comments on Wednesday seemed to suggest that he was willing to take a hard line on the border wall, even if it meant going around Congress. “There are a lot of strange things that can happen in this country,” Trump said. “Believe me, a lot of strange things can happen.”
Donald Trump, the U.S. President, has not ruled out the option of declaring a National Emergency to change the election system ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November. In a realAmericanRadio interview, Wayne Allyn Root, the host, suggested that if Congress fails to process the "SAVE America Act," the President would have the authority to declare a National Emergency regarding the elections.
If a National Emergency is declared, "photographs, citizenship documents, and mail-in voting restrictions can be secured," Root claimed. As the interview continued, President Trump interjected, saying, "I'll just say that something strange has happened," and then declared, "I'll go no further." However, CNN notes that Trump may have explicitly excluded extreme scenarios to avoid overinterpretation.
The SAVE America Act, which Trump strongly championed, requires citizens to prove their U.S. citizenship documents when registering to vote, and to present a photo ID during voting. The bill passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate. While Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, they need 60 votes to end a filibuster to pass the bill.
Trump pressured the Senate to pass the bill but the GOP leadership opposed it. The Senate adjourned last summer. Republicans plan to try again after they return in a month, this time by incorporating some of the bill's provisions into a different spending bill. The authority to determine the "time, place, and method" of federal elections is constitutionally based on states, and the federal government's power to change it is granted to Congress.
Attempts by the Trump administration to intervene in election rules through a presidential proclamation have repeatedly been blocked by courts. Despite these setbacks, Trump has repeatedly stated his intention for the federal government to play a more direct role in managing the elections.
Written by urgent.news from Hankyoreh's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
