President Trump Declares National Emergency: ‘If We Had A Wall, We Don’t Need The Military’
President Trump announced on Friday he will sign the bill to fund the government and declare a national emergency to free up more funds and build his wall.
Trump addressed the multiple issues facing his decision to sign the national emergency, including the speculation that he didn’t go through Congress before announcing his plans to sign. Trump said during the Rose Garden address that while he did ask Congress, there were many other instances when former presidents signed national emergencies on their own accord.
“We’re going to be signing today and registering national emergency and it’s a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people and it’s unacceptable,” the POTUS said, per a CBS News report. “It’s something signed many other times by presidents. Many, many, many times.”
Trump continued to reference former President Barack Obama’s national emergency against criminal cartels entering the country, stating it’s very similar to what he is doing. He said during his address what he intends to do is “very simple” and will not only end regulations that he deems unnecessary, it will also create a stronger economy. By building a wall, Trump believes that the need for military and law enforcement officials would go down because the wall would make it easier to ban people from coming into the U.S. He also insists that building the wall will decrease the need for security for himself.
“We would get thousands of law enforcement people, including border patrol,” Trump said. “You put them in different areas, you have them doing different things.”
President @realDonaldTrump signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. pic.twitter.com/0bUhudtwvS
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 15, 2019
The POTUS also thanked ICE and law enforcement as well as said he will be taking care of them after they have faced what he claimed to be abuse from the press and the Democratic party. He also announced the wall will receive $8 billion in funding, with $1.375 billion coming from his signed appropriations bill. Trump said during his address that he is aware that he will face the Supreme Court for moving forward with building the wall, and he hopes he receives a “fair shake” and win the case. He also spoke about how this will affect trade in China, stating that the wall will “level the playing field,” and claims the U.S. has been losing on average $375 billion a year.
Republicans have spoken out about the declaration, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, CBS News reports. Collins said declaring a national emergency to fund the wall is a “mistake on the part of the president” and added that it undermines Congress.
