White House adviser Stephen Miller said Sunday that Congress “didn’t refuse to appropriate” U.S.-Mexico border wall funds — even if lawmakers refused to fund the project.
“They passed a law specifically saying the president could have this authority,” Miller argued during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump ended two months of congressional gridlock Friday by declaring a national emergency to build the border wall after Democrats in Congress would agree to only $1.375 billion in funds for fencing along a 55-mile stretch of border in Texas, far less than the $5.7 billion Trump sought for 234 miles of wall.
Miller on Sunday pointed to the 1976 National Emergencies Act after being pressed on the Constitution’s requirement that “[n]o money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.”
“The premise of your question is also false because Congress has appropriated money for construction of border barriers consistently,” Miller said.
Congress can pass a resolution of disapproval to nix Trump’s new emergency declaration, which the president invoked last week to redirect military funds toward building a wall. But Miller said Trump would veto the resolution.
“Well, obviously the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration,” he said.
A resolution of disapproval likely would pass both the Democrat-controlled House and the Republican-held Senate, due to GOP defections.
The White House said the emergency declaration was needed only to redirect $3.6 billion in military construction funds and that Trump would redirect, without emergency powers, about $600 million from the Treasury Department’s forfeiture fund and about $2.5 billion from Defense Department anti-drug activities.
Presidents have declared dozens of other emergencies since 1976 and 31 of them still in effect. The for reasons for these emergencies ranged from swine flu to countering “blood diamonds.” However none of those declarations attracted much controversy, and Trump is likely to face lawsuits from Democrats, environmentalists, and landowners.
