Jack Crowe, NATIONAL REVIEW
January 10, 2019
Sen. Lindsey Graham on Capitol Hill (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) called on President Trump Thursday to bypass Congress and unilaterally fund the construction of a border wall by declaring a national emergency.
Graham, who has led Republicans in negotiations to end the ongoing 20-day government shutdown, told CNN Thursday evening that he has “never been more depressed about moving forward than right now” and predicted the current stalemate would last for days.
Graham’s comments came after Trump publicly entertained in recent days the possibility of using military funds to finance the construction of a $5.7 billion “steel-slate barrier” on the southern border.
“I have the absolute right to do national emergency if I want,” Trump told reporters during a White House pool spray on Wednesday. “My threshold will be if I can’t make a deal with people that are unreasonable.”
White House advisers briefed the president on Thursday on a plan to use a portion of the $13.9 billion allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers for disaster recovery and infrastructure projects to fund the wall, NBC News first reported.
While the president has the authority to deploy funds as he see fits in the event of a national emergency, any move to fund the wall without explicit congressional approval is sure to draw an immediate legal challenge.
During a trip to the border town of McAllen, Texas on Thursday, Trump continued to make the case that the record number of migrant families arriving at the southern border each day constitutes a “crisis” that must be addressed, at least in part, with the construction of a physical barrier.
“They say a wall is medieval. Well, so is a wheel,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion at the Border Patrol station in McAllen. “There are some things that work. You know what? A wheel works, and a wall works.”
@ honeybee:
Hello, Honeybee
The Bracero program ended in 1964. The problem at our southern border seems to be: 1. not enough agents do deal with the enormous numbers, 2. the vast stretches of open border with no control at all, 3. the great danger posed by people traffickers, drug traffickers, terrorists and arms traffickers infiltrating among the arrivals and departees, and 4. the deliberate non-cooperation between local law enforcement and federal agents. The barrier proposed by President addresses all these issues, at least in part.
@ Michael S:
I would like to see a greater presents of Border patrol, a return of the Bracero Program, an Eliss Island like center for incoming refugees and a softening of immigration requirements. Of course the overwhelming numbers and lack of sufficient will not permit my hopes.
I see the border/ shutdown issue as a great pimple, filled with Democrat pus. President Trump will squeeze it, and it will pop.