Trump Aides Indicate President Will Veto Disapproval Of National Emergency Declaration
On Thursday, President Donald Trump and Congress signed a deal that would prevent a second government shutdown. The first, triggered on December 22 over border wall funding, lasted for 35 days, the longest in U.S. history, and left nearly a million federal employees working without pay or furloughed.
After reaching an agreement to temporarily reopen the government while negotiations continued, the deadline for an agreement was set for February 15. With just a day left, the parties involved finally agreed to a deal, but in one fell swoop the White House also announced that Trump would be declaring a national emergency in order to get the funding for his wall instead.
The declaration, officially made on Friday from the White House, has been slammed by lawmakers from both parties, and it is believed Congress may well vote to disapprove it. According to a report by the Associated Press, the president is expected to veto that vote.
If the president does veto the decision, it will be the first of his presidency.
While he didn’t absolutely confirm this is the president’s planned course of action, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday explained that “the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration.”
Trump is prepared to veto congressional national emergency disapproval, adviser suggestshttps://t.co/HXRN8fmtLl
— TIME (@TIME) February 17, 2019
The first two lawsuits as a result of the declaration have already been filed by the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen and the America Civil Liberties Union, per a previous report by the Inquisitr. Another lawsuit is being threatened by California, where Attorney General Xavier Becerra said a lawsuit is “imminent.”
Even Republicans are concerned about Trump calling for a national emergency to get his way with regards to the wall, saying it would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to also circumvent Congress to get their way. A number of them have also stated that they’re going to be voting against the president’s veto.
In the meantime, Democrats are hoping to “introduce a resolution” that will block Trump’s national emergency declaration.
Despite the opposition to the president, some Republicans believe there is enough support for the president and the wall to prevent the veto from being defeated.
“I think there are plenty of votes in the House to make sure that there’s no override of the president’s veto,” Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said. “So it’s going to be settled in court, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Trump has been fighting hard to get funding for his wall, which he has been promising to build since he was on the campaign trail in 2016. At the time, he promised that he would somehow force Mexico to pay for it. With the U.S.’s neighbors refusing to do so, he has been fighting Congress for an estimated $5.7 billion to get construction underway.
