Border Wall: After President Donald Trump said Thursday he’ll sign the budget deal, he ended the possibility of a second government shutdown. Now, for part two of this saga: his declaration of an emergency to build the border wall Trump promised to Americans.
We urged him to take that step before the deal had been struck. We did so because the deal actually includes Democrats agreeing to spend money on a wall, a key concession that weakens all their previous arguments against the wall.
Now that he’s declared an emergency, it gives him the ability to start building.
The new budget deal, though it contains just $1.4 billion for the wall — way below the $5.7 billion Trump requested and the $18 billion he initially asked for — gives the president a start. And with a declaration of an emergency, he now can do even more.
Indeed, Trump has already scraped up $8 billion in funds for building the border wall. His Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Friday the president has already lined up emergency funds totaling $600 million from the Treasury, $2.5 billion in drug-interdiction funds from the Defense Department, and $3.5 billion from military construction funds.
With the $1.4 billion already in the budget, that’s a grand total just under $8 billion. Not enough, of course, but a good start.
Yes, It’s An Emergency —>
Read the rest of this IBD editorial HERE.
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