Lawmakers sparred on Sunday over President Trump’s national emergency declaration to build a wall on the southern border, with Democrats accusing him of trashing the Constitution and Republicans supporting him protecting national security.
“This is the first time a president has tried to declare an emergency when Congress explicitly rejected funding for the particular project that the president is advocating,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“He’s pretty much daring the court to strike this down,” said Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “It is going to be a real test for my GOP colleagues in Congress and their devotion to the institution.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally of the president, said Trump had no option other than to go around Congress after it approved just $1.3 billion — not the $5.7 billion he had demanded.
“Unfortunately when it comes to Trump, the Congress is locked down and will not give him what we’ve given past presidents,” the South Carolina Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “So unfortunately, he’s got to do it on his own and I support his decision to go that route.”
But another Republican, Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, said “we’re in uncharted territory” over the president invoking his executive powers.
“I don’t think we needed a national emergency declaration,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “That is not a tool that the president needs in order to solve this problem.”
Hurd, whose district includes more than 800 miles of border, said building a wall would hurt farmers and ranchers by taking their private property and suggested exploring others options, including technology and increasing the pay of Border Patrol agents, as ways to stop immigrants from illegally crossing the border.
Hurd said he would back reviewing the president’s plan to divert money from military construction funds and support Congress exercising its “power as a co-equal branch of government.”
Hurd also echoed concerns from other lawmakers over the precedent the president set in using his executive powers to claim funds after Congress turned him down.
“We’re almost in uncharted territory now because I think that based on my research and this is one of the first times that there has been a disagreement between the executive branch and Congress on what is indeed a national emergency,” he said.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said he would have preferred that Congress provide the money to Trump, but doesn’t believe the president’s action was unconstitutional.
Still, Johnson said, he worries about power being taken away from Congress.
“I think many of us are concerned about this,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think Congress, past Congresses have given any executive, any administration way too much power. And this would be another expansion of that power.”
Schiff said any attempt to limit a chief executive’s authority to declare a national emergency must be made cautiously.
“The risk that the president takes, the risk to future presidencies, is that we limit the president’s power to act when it really is necessary,” Schiff said. “But this president doesn’t care about future presidents, he only cares about himself.”
Trump announced last Friday that he was using his authority under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to take money from other sources to come up with $8 billion to build his wall.
The cash will come from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund, the Defense Department’s drug interdiction program and the Pentagon’s military construction account.
