Donald Trump intends to sign a border agreement to avoid a new government shutdown



[ad_1]

Trump said on Tuesday that he was "not satisfied" with the agreement in principle reached by congressional negotiators late Monday night, which is far from meeting his initial demands.

On Wednesday, he told reporters that he would "look very seriously" at the bill, adding that he did not want the government to be blocked again.

Congress has a deadline to have Trump sign an agreement by Friday.

The agreement, which includes $ 1.375 billion for a border fence, is well below the $ 5.7 billion originally demanded by Trump for a wall. That does not even match the $ 1.6 billion included in a Senate agenda last year.

Analysis | Going alone on the wall would be the Trump Summit

Nevertheless, the measure would avoid another government judgment. Polls showed that Trump was largely responsible for the stalemate of the previous 35 days.

"I do not want to see a closure, a closure would be a terrible thing," said the president at an oval office meeting Wednesday with Colombian President Ivan Duque. "I do not want to see another one, there is no reason for that."

Even though lawmakers were arguing over the details of their deal, the White House had planned behind the scenes to unilaterally secure funds for the wall.

The White House said Trump was continuing to weigh his options to fund a border wall, which still means taking steps to ensure that funding for a wall is guaranteed. The combination of actions that the president can use is not clear and the subject has been under discussion for weeks.

All would not require the declaration of a national emergency and they will probably be deployed piece by piece, not necessarily all at the same time, once Trump has left.

RELATED: Analysis | Why Trump threat to declare national emergency frightens Republicans

The combination of actions that the president can use is not clear. Estimates of how much each option could yield have also been debated, and most White House staff believe that any action by the executive will result in legal challenges – some will be easy. and others more difficult legally, according to counselors familiar with the subject. The President held almost daily meetings with senior advisors and others to discuss his options.

According to CNN's latest reports, the unilateral options of the president include:

Access Treasury confiscation funds

About $ 680 million

  • Would not ask the president to declare a national emergency.
  • Includes uncommitted funds from participating organizations that can be used to support enforcement activities.
  • After the Office of Management and Budget reviewed the order, the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security both warned Congress and waited 15 days before funds could be used.
  • The acquisition of land is allowed under this option.

Use of USC 284 to divert funds from the Pentagon for the fight against narcotics

Up to about 2 billion dollars

  • May not force the president to declare a national emergency, according to a CRS legal report.
  • DHS must exercise a waiver to transfer anti-drug funds to build fences to prevent drug trafficking.
  • DHS is asking the Ministry of Defense for help after identifying a location where a fence is needed to block the drug trafficking corridor.

Using USC 2808 to Access Military Construction Funds

About $ 3.6 billion

  • Require the president to declare a national emergency.
  • Would require the use of the army.
  • The president would say that border protection is a mission of the Department of Defense.

Use the funds of civil engineering works of the Army Corps with USC 2293

About $ 3 billion

  • Require the president to declare a national emergency, according to a US government official.
  • The Secretary of the Army may arrest or postpone military civil engineering work and allocate funds for the construction of civil defense projects essential to national defense (the Secretary of the Army takes the final decision if it is essential to national defense).
  • Unspent funds that could be used are now being used for Army Engineering Corps projects to repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.

Kevin Liptak of CNN, Veronica Stracqualursi, Kaitlan Collins, Tammy Kupperman, Jim Acosta, Pamela Brown, Abby Phillip, Maegan Vazquez and Joe Johns contributed to the writing of this report.

[ad_2]
Source link