Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
President Trump declared a national emergency to address the crisis at the southern border.
During a Rose Garden speech, the president justified the emergency declaration on the number of illegal drugs coming over the border and the number of illegal crossings into the U.S.
CBS News reports:
President Trump — dissatisfied with the funding Congress is providing him for barriers at the southern border — will sign the bill to fund the government and declare a national emergency to free up more funds to build his wall.
“I’m going to be signing a national emergency,” the president announced in his Rose Garden address Friday.
The Washington Post describes the elements of the national emergency.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed to reporters that Trump intends to sign a spending bill to avert a government shutdown and also declare a national emergency to secure additional funding for border barriers.
“With the declaration of a national emergency, the president will have access to roughly $8 billion worth of money that can be used to secure the southern border,” Mulvaney told reporters, shortly before Trump was scheduled to speak in the Rose Garden.
Mulvaney said the steps were necessary because Congress wouldn’t act.
“They are simply incapable of providing the amount of money necessary in the president’s eyes to address the current situation at the border,” he said.
The White House’s goal is to build more than 234 miles of new barriers. It will be a bollard-wall type structure, officials said, not the concrete wall Trump promised during his campaign.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), said the president’s emergency declaration sets a bad precedent.
Pelosi warns Democrat president could declare national emergency on guns https://t.co/aXhA8JaUQI pic.twitter.com/QC2hu5sZ9e
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) February 14, 2019
Democrat opposition to border security and the construction of the wall is based on politics and not the safety and security for Americans.
