President Trump’s plan to use his own authority to fund the southern border wall has flipped the script in Congress, where many of his closest Republican allies hate the plan and some of his Democratic opponents seem willing to accept it.
Some Republican lawmakers say his plan to declare an emergency and draw from pre-existing funds to build the wall would set a dangerous precedent for the executive branch. They say it might also be illegal and could be struck down in court or by Congress.
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“He’ll either lose in court and I wouldn’t like that, or he’ll win, and as a legislator, I don’t think that’s the way to go,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a top appropriator, told the Washington Examiner. “We should create consensus here.”
Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus have reportedly warned the Trump administration not to pull the trigger and said they feared how future presidents might try to use that same power.
Democrats, on the other hand, were more willing to look on the bright side. For some, Trump’s plan could be a quick way to end the partial government shutdown, which entered its fourth week on Saturday and started when Congress couldn’t agree to a compromise between Trump’s demand for a wall and Democrats’ opposition to a wall.
“It relocates the controversy from Congress to the courts, and it gives cover to our Republican colleagues to reopen government, to join us in doing what we said we need to do,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who represents tens of thousands of federal workers, told the Washington Examiner. “In that sense, it’s good.”
Raskin still opposes Trump’s idea, along with most in his party. But some Democrats from swing districts have signaled a willingness to consider a wall and say their constituents want Congress to back stronger border security.
Among them is one of the highest ranking Democrats, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Peterson told the Washington Examiner most of his constituents support the president’s border wall plan and said he is agnostic on how the fight ends.
“At this point, I’d be happy with any way out of this mess,” Peterson said.
While the plan has created some positive signals from Democrats, Congress by and large disapproves of it. Trump’s proposal would use unspent disaster funding that was approved last year in a $14 billion package aimed at repairing storm and wildfire related damages in California, Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.
Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who is a top appropriator, told the Washington Examiner that the unspent money Trump is eyeing was meant to be used by the Army Corps of Engineers once they plan new projects.
Simpson said if Trump usurps those funds, it will trigger a re-shifting of project priorities so that disaster areas continue to get relief. That means the Army Corps would poach money from other projects considered less critical.
“It’s going to piss off a lot of members,” Simpson said. “Republicans and Democrats who have projects in their area.”
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, who represents the Fort Hood Army base, said he doesn’t support Trump’s use of national emergency powers to take money from other critical projects, such as military construction.
“We’re rebuilding the barracks, we’re rebuilding the motor pools, we’re fixing the runways,” he said. “We worked hard to get that funding to there, so right now, I don’t want to slow that down. I don’t want to take from there.”
Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who opposes wall funding, said Trump’s threat to build the wall without Congress is “stupid and cruel” but that Congress can’t do much in response to it until Trump acts.
“Everything we do is after the fact, because it’s in his hands,” Grijalva said.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee and the former chief deputy whip, said Congress should work to find an agreement so that Trump doesn’t have to act unilaterally. McHenry and other Republicans blame Democrats for refusing to agree to any wall money rather than negotiating on a wall price.
Republicans told the Washington Examiner that the Trump administration in December had offered to cut in half his demand for $5 billion in wall funding, but Democrats rejected it.
“This is a time where serious leadership, legislative leadership, should come together on a compromise,” McHenry, R-N.C., said. “They are not yet willing to do that.”
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
