Trump To Sign Border Bill, Declare Emergency For More Wall Money

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US general says no military threat on southern border

LOLITA C. BALDOR

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Associated Press•February 26, 2019

 

 

 

FILE - In this April 17, 2018 file photo, Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under pointed questioning from senators, the top U.S. general for homeland defense said Tuesday that he sees no military threat coming from the southern border with Mexico, but his focus is on "very real" threats from China and Russia.

Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, told a Senate committee that proposed barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border could increase security against any potential military threats coming from the south. But he said Russia's advancements in training and capabilities, and its intent to hold the U.S. at risk, present an urgent threat to America.

President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency along the southern border to fund his proposed wall, and he plans to use Defense Department funds from military construction and counter-drug programs to pay for it. Members of Congress are challenging that.

Democratic senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee peppered O'Shaughnessy with questions about the need to divert the money from existing projects and questioned the validity of a national emergency declaration.

"I'm concerned, very frankly, that this administration is politicizing our military and militarizing our immigration policy - in effect, using the troops under your command as political props, both in terms of declaring a fake emergency but also compromising our potential security by diverting them away from other assignments and missions that are absolutely necessary," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The meeting comes as the Democratic-controlled House was planning a vote Tuesday to revoke Trump's emergency declaration, and send legislation to the Republican-held Senate, where it would take only a handful of GOP defections to pass it.

O'Shaughnessy, who visited the southern border on Saturday with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, was careful to defer any assessment of the southern threat to the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection. He said that those agencies believe that more fencing can impact the movement of drugs across the border.

O'Shaughnessy said he would defer to DHS "on the character of the threat," adding that Northern Command is trying to "be a good partner" as the other agencies take on the drug trafficking challenge. Asked if it is a national emergency, he said, it is a "national issue" that requires a "whole-of-government approach."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned whether Congress should allow Trump to use Pentagon money for a non-defense emergency.

"The threat isn't military, and still we'll take $6 billion out of the defense budget to deal with it?" said Kaine. "If we set that precedent, I certainly can foresee a day when a president is going to say 40,000 gun deaths a year are an emergency, and why don't we take money out of the Pentagon budget to deal with that?"

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, argued that the shipment of illegal drugs from Mexico into the U.S. has caused tens of thousands of deaths, and that it constituted an emergency. But he also endorsed O'Shaughnessy's assertion that Russia's expanding fleet of icebreakers in the Arctic present a serious threat, and the U.S. needs to increase its capabilities there.

The U.S. Coast Guard currently has one working Polar-class icebreaker ship, but there's funding in the Defense Department budget to begin building more. Sullivan said the poor condition of the U.S. ship is a disgrace, and the U.S. needs more ability to counter Russia and China in the arctic.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/us-general-says-no-military-threat-southern-border-155819529--politics.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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Trump border emergency foes close in on needed Senate votes

 ALAN FRAM and ANDREW TAYLOR,Associated Press 17 hours ago 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate opponents of President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border moved within a hair Thursday of having enough votes to prevail, and one Republican suggested he risks a rebuff by the GOP-led chamber if he doesn't change course.

Trump's move would "turn a border crisis into a constitutional crisis," veteran Sen. Lamar Alexander said on the Senate floor. But he stopped just short of saying he'd support a resolution blocking the president's move. Had Alexander pledged his vote, it would probably be enough for the Senate to pass a measure repealing the emergency declaration.

Speaking later to reporters, Alexander, R-Tenn., warned what might happen if Trump doesn't settle for using other money he can access without declaring an emergency.

"He can build a wall and avoid a dangerous precedent and I hope he'll do that," Alexander said. "So that would change the voting situation if he would agree to do that."

The Democratic-led House voted Tuesday to upend Trump's declaration, which he declared to circumvent Congress and funnel billions of extra dollars to erecting his proposed wall.

Trump has promised to veto the effort to thwart him, and Congress seems all but certain to lack the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed to override his veto. But the showdown puts GOP lawmakers in a ticklish spot that party leaders are hoping to ease.

Republicans say a Senate vote is likely in two weeks, but exactly what the Senate will vote on remains unclear.

Several Republicans said that behind closed doors, they were considering several options for alternative language. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was among those suggesting provisions making it harder for future presidents to divert federal dollars to projects of their choosing by declaring emergencies.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some changes are made," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

While the wall elicits wide public opposition, Trump remains wildly popular with hard-right voters and GOP lawmakers cross him at their peril. Trump warned Republicans anew against challenging him.

"I really think that Republicans that vote against border security and the wall, I think you know, I've been OK at predicting things, I think they put themselves at great jeopardy," Trump said in excerpts of an interview with Fox News Channel's "Hannity" show released Thursday.

While congressional Republicans are reluctant to confront Trump, many say his move tramples Congress' constitutional power to control spending. They say it would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to declare emergencies for their own purposes, and they worry he would siphon money to barrier construction from home-state projects.

Alexander, a three-term senator who plans to retire in 2021, has no re-election worries.

"I support what the president wants to do on border security, but not the way he has been advised to do it," said Alexander, 78. "It is unnecessary and unwise to turn a border crisis into a constitutional crisis about separation of powers."

Presidents have declared 58 national emergencies under a 1976 law. But never has one declared an emergency after Congress had explicitly denied the money in question, Alexander said.

GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have said they will vote to derail the emergency declaration. Just four Republicans would be needed to send the measure to Trump for his promised veto, assuming that all 47 Democrats and their independent allies vote as expected to confront the president.

By law, the resolution cannot be filibustered and would only need a majority to pass the Senate, usually 51 votes.

Congress has voted to limit spending for barriers to just under $1.4 billion. Trump featured the wall as a central plank of his presidential campaign and repeatedly said Mexico would pay for it, which hasn't happened.

Trump has said he needs additional barriers to halt drugs, human traffickers and unauthorized immigrants from slipping into the U.S. Opponents say there is no crisis.

The emergency declaration would let Trump divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. He's invoking other authorities to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction.

Lawsuits have been filed aimed at derailing the declaration, which could at least prevent Trump from getting the extra money for months or more.

Meanwhile, Collins and three other moderate senators introduced their own resolution blocking the emergency.

The proposal is identical to the one-sentence, House-approved measure. The new legislation lets senators put their stamp on congressional opposition to Trump's move.

The other sponsors are Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Only Murkowski doesn't face re-election next year.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/4-senators-push-resolution-halt-trumps-border-emergency-152122565--politics.html

 

GO RV, then BV