Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney signaled Sunday that President Trump is prepared to declare a national emergency in order to obtain funding for a border wall.
A temporary spending deal was reached last week to reopen large swaths of the federal government that were shuttered for more than a month. The White House and Congress now have three weeks to come up with a long-term legislative solution, which Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday” would be the “right way” to obtain funding to fulfill Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in funding for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.
If Trump doesn’t secure the funds he seeks, “at the end of the day, the president’s commitment is to defend the nation and he’ll do it either with or without Congress,” Mulvaney told Fox News’ John Roberts.
Trump indicated he was willing to take such an approach when he approved the stopgap funding measure on Friday that reopened the government until Feb. 15. The short-term spending measure was designed to give Congress time to negotiate a solution and temporarily ended the partial government shutdown stemming from the border wall dispute.
“So let me be very clear: We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier,” Trump said Friday afternoon. “If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on Feb. 15, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency. We will have great security.”
Meanwhile, CNN reports Trump’s staff is already laying the groundwork for a proclamation that would grant Trump $7 billion of federal money to boost security at the U.S.-Mexico border. The funding would come from several departments, including from the military’s construction budget. The potential decision to use a type of executive action could come with legal troubles from immigrant groups and land conservative organizations who might sue and hold up the process.
Although the government is open for now, Mulvaney didn’t deny that another shutdown could soon happen.
“No one wants a government shutdown,” Mulvaney said. “But when a president vetoes a bill that’s put in front of him on a spending package, sometimes that has the effect of shutting the government down. We don’t go into this trying to shut the government down.”
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to show that Mick Mulvaney was interviewed by Fox News’ John Roberts, who was filling in for Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
