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Trump says no emergency declaration to end US govt shutdown
WASHINGTON, Jan 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump said he was
holding off on declaring a state of emergency to end the partial US
government shutdown that dragged into a 23rd day Sunday, as he insisted on
$5.7 billion to build a Mexico border wall that congressional Democrats
oppose.
Asked by Fox News why he didn’t immediately declare a national emergency to
secure the funds without congressional approval, Trump said he wanted to give
opposition Democratic lawmakers more time to strike a deal.
“I want to give them the chance to see if they can act responsibly,” he
told Fox in an interview late Saturday.
The US government shutdown became the longest on record at midnight Friday,
when it overtook a 21-day stretch in 1995-1996 under president Bill Clinton.
Trump fired off a series of tweets Saturday in an effort to defend his
stance and goad Democrats to return to Washington and end what he called “the
massive humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border.”
“Democrats could solve the Shutdown in 15 minutes!” he said in one tweet,
adding in another, “We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come
back from their ‘vacations’ and get back to work. I am in the White House
ready to sign!”
But most lawmakers left town on Friday and will not return before Monday,
leaving little chance for any solution to the stalemate before then.
The impasse has paralyzed Washington — its impact felt increasingly around
the country — with the president refusing to sign off on budgets for swaths
of government departments unrelated to the dispute.
As a result, 800,000 federal employees — including FBI agents, air traffic
controllers and museum staff — received no paychecks on Friday.
– Retreat from ’emergency’ –
At a White House meeting Friday Trump described an emergency declaration as
the “easy way out,” and said Congress had to step up to the responsibility of
approving funding for the wall.
“If they can’t do it… I will declare a national emergency. I have the
absolute right,” he said.
Trump however acknowledged that such a move would likely trigger a legal
battle ending in the Supreme Court.
Opponents say such a unilateral presidential move would be constitutional
overreach and set a dangerous precedent in similar controversies.
– ‘Under siege’ –
Trump pushed back Saturday on a media report that his White House was
“chaotic” with no plan or strategy to end the shutdown.
To understand the plan “you would have to understand the fact that I won
the election, and I promised… a Wall at the Southern Border. Elections have
consequences!” he tweeted.
Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the US-Mexican border presents
challenges, but Trump has turned his single-minded push for more walls into a
crusade that opponents say is a stunt to stoke xenophobia in his right-wing
voter base.
For the president, who visited the Texas border with Mexico on Thursday,
the border situation amounts to an invasion by criminals. Only in recent days
has he begun describing the problem as “humanitarian.”
Some studies show that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than people
born in the United States.
And most narcotics are smuggled through heavily guarded checkpoints in
vehicles, the government’s Drug Enforcement Administration said in a 2017
report.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1130 hrs