The government shutdown is now the longest such shutdown in American history. Unsurprisingly, some members of Congress are starting to get antsy. The shutdown record wasn’t one that most were looking to break. And on Sunday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), who can usually be counted as a Trump supporter, raised the prospects of temporarily opening the government.
Graham isn’t leaving the wall for dead, however. He suggested that the president could first re-open the government and then declare a national emergency to secure funding to build the wall. President Trump had previously suggested that he’d do just that but over the weekend backed off.
If the government is going to be temporarily re-opened, Trump will have to make a potentially damaging concession. The president has already refused overtures to temporarily re-open the government while negotiations regarding the wall continued. If he backtracks now, he might look weak.
Poll Numbers Bad for Republicans, Including President Trump
So why is Graham urging the temporary re-opening of the government? Quite simply, more Americans are blaming the president and Republicans for the shutdown rather than Democrats. With the 2020 election season fast approaching, polls will become all the more vital.
A recent CNN poll found that the president’s approval rating dipped from 39 percent in December, before the shutdown, to 37 percent in January. Meanwhile, only 39 percent supported funding for the border wall, while 56 percent opposed it.
Yet the most important number is the blame game. 55 percent of respondents believed that President Trump was responsible for the shutdown, while just 32 percent blamed Democrats in Congress.
Could Trump Build His Wall By Declaring a National Emergency?
Can the president secure funding by declaring a national emergency? The National Emergencies Act of 1976 gives the president the unilateral ability to declare such an emergency. Once declared, the president gains access to an expanded portfolio of funding and powers.
By the way, such national emergencies are far from uncommon. In fact, national emergencies have been announced on some 58 different occasions. And 31 emergencies are technically still on-going. Often, emergency powers are used to punish individuals in foreign regimes. The Obama administration, for example, used emergency powers to block the property of transnational criminal organizations, the Russian government, persons “threatening Yemen,” and various others.
The Trump administration has invoked emergency powers in three separate occasions. Like Obama, the Trump administration has used emergency powers to punish foreign individuals and impose sanctions. Given the track record past presidents have established when using emergency powers, Trump likely could declare an emergency at the southern border.
However, anyone who is affected by the national emergency declaration can challenge it in court. The Trump administration would almost certainly find itself in legal battles with immigrants and others affected by the declaration. Congress could also draft a resolution to terminate the state of emergency but with Republicans in control of the Senate, that’d be unlikely.
Trump has already claimed that he “100 percent” has the legal right to declare the emergency and that it’d survive any court challenges. However, while the National Emergency Act does appear to offer a plausible path to funding, it’s not surefire. Still, with Democrats refusing to budge, a national emergency might represent the most promising path to building a border wall.
