President Donald Trump has made it known over the past week that, should Democrats continue to refuse to negotiate with him on providing funding for border wall construction to end the ongoing partial government shutdown, he has the right to declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and obtain previously appropriated funds for other things to use for the border wall instead.
It had even been suggested in recent days that the Trump administration might consider using unspent disaster relief funds to pay for the border wall, but that plan appears to have been dropped from consideration following substantial bipartisan backlash to the idea.
Considering an unpopular option
The Washington Examiner reported that White House officials had floated the idea to various reporters on Thursday that billions of dollars appropriated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the purpose of disaster relief — such as hurricane relief in Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, and wildfire relief in California — could be shifted to fund border wall construction.
However, just a day later on Friday, Trump told reporters that he was, at least as of now, “not looking” to declare a national emergency with regard to the southern border.
Meanwhile, a powerful ally in Congress stepped forward to try and end the wild speculation among the media and others that Trump was about to raid disaster relief funding to get money for the wall.
Republican Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, ranking member on the important House Ways and Means Committee, linked to one such media report and tweeted Thursday evening: “I’ve spoken directly with the White House. Absolutely not true.”
I’ve spoken directly with the White House. Absolutely not true.
.@realDonaldTrump committed to border security/ will not back down until adequate $$ are secured. Fully supports Corps funding to help Harvey communities rebuild/prevent future flooding. https://t.co/drYkYP9Y6K— Rep. Kevin Brady (@RepKevinBrady) January 11, 2019
Previously appropriated and unspent funds
The Examiner went on to report that a number of elected Republicans, including members of Congress and governors from states impacted by recent natural disasters, also spoke out against the idea floated by the White House — and it seems their message was received.
If Trump were to proceed with the plan to utilize unspent disaster relief funding for the border wall, he would most likely tap a pool of about $13.9 billion that remains from a February 2018 appropriation for the Army Corps of Engineers, money that has yet to be spent or even obligated toward any specific crisis or disaster.
However, while doing so would technically be a legal and sound avenue to fund the border wall, it would nevertheless create poor optics for the president, grant ammunition to his detractors to use against him, and set a precedent that future presidents may seize upon to use un-obligated pools of appropriated funds as a “slush fund” to pay for whatever particular “crisis” they wanted to deal with without congressional authorization.
[show_poll poll_id=1256]
In all likelihood, Trump will refrain from using disaster relief funding to pay for border wall construction.
Instead, he has made it abundantly clear that he is ready and willing to negotiate a compromise deal with Congressional Democrats to obtain the necessary funding through the appropriations process.
If Democrats don’t want to see this idea of using disaster funding for the border wall, they ought to get back to Washington as soon as possible and actually work out a deal with the president so he won’t feel like he has no other choice but to elevate this to emergency level.
1,211 Responses
Normally I do not read article on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do so! Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thank you, quite nice post.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. Ill bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I am quite sure Ill learn a lot of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
You’ve made some decent points there. I looked on the web for additional information about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this website.
Hi there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!
I actually wanted to post a simple note to be able to appreciate you for all the lovely solutions you are showing here. My extended internet search has at the end been recognized with good insight to exchange with my relatives. I ‘d tell you that many of us visitors actually are very much endowed to dwell in a perfect website with very many outstanding professionals with useful points. I feel somewhat privileged to have used your entire website page and look forward to some more amazing times reading here. Thanks again for a lot of things.
The very next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not disappoint me just as much as this one. After all, Yes, it was my choice to read through, nonetheless I actually believed you’d have something helpful to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you weren’t too busy searching for attention.
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any techniques to help protect against content from being ripped off? I’d truly appreciate it.
Have you ever thought about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog centered on the same subjects you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.
Very well written story. It will be helpful to anybody who usess it, including yours truly :). Keep up the good work – can’r wait to read more posts.
Thanks , I have just been looking for information approximately this subject for ages and yours is the best I have came upon till now. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you certain concerning the supply?
I have to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this website. I am hoping to check out the same high-grade content by you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal site now 😉
Great I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, web site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..
Its actually a great and useful piece of info. Im satisfied that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on few general things, The web site style is ideal, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular article! It is the little changes that will make the biggest changes. Many thanks for sharing!
Hi my friend! I wish to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include almost all important infos. I would like to see more posts like this.
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your wonderful post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my social networks!
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for keyword|
I think other website proprietors should take this website as an model, very clean and magnificent user genial style and design, as well as the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
It’s best to participate in a contest for top-of-the-line blogs on the web. I will recommend this website!
It’s arduous to search out educated folks on this matter, but you sound like you understand what you’re talking about! Thanks
This web site certainly has all of the information and facts I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend who was conducting a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me lunch because I discovered it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this subject here on your website.
hello there and thank you for your info I have definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this site, since I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and could damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well Im adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for a lot more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you update this again very soon..
Hi, just wanted to say, I loved this post. It was inspiring. Keep on posting!|