NEW: Trump to Declare National Emergency to Get More Money for Border Wall

Wednesday, February 13, 2019
GoLocalPDX News Team

President Donald Trump will take an “executive action” and declare a national emergency to secure more money for a border wall, according to reports. 

Trump is expected to sign compromise spending legislation to avert another government shutdown — and according to the White House, will declare a national emergency for more funding. 

As Bloomberg.com reported:

“President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

“There is no national emergency at the border. Even the President’s intel chiefs say that. No @realDonaldTrump declaration will change that fact,” Congressman David Cicilline Tweeted on Thursday. 

University of Virginia Professor of Political Science and regular GoLocal LIVE guest Jennifer Lawless said the following after the announcement.

"Declaring a national emergency for wall funding is the presidential version of a temper tantrum. The circumstances at the border are no worse today than when Trump declared his candidacy. They’re no worse today than when he took office. And they’re no worse today than when he refused to accept to a reasonable deal for border security and opted to shut down the government for 35 days instead," said Lawless. 

"The only thing that’s changed is that the president still hasn’t gotten his way. So rather than use the levers of government to craft a meaningful compromise, he’s behaving like a toddler who screams at the store when his parents won’t buy him the Legos he wants. The scary part is that this toddler is the most powerful man on the planet."