President Trump has tried to work with Democrats in Congress to solve the partial government shutdown and build a border wall, but they are not willing to budge. Now that Trump made a more-than-generous compromise proposal and Democrats still didn’t work with him, it’s time to use executive action to get the wall built himself.
The Senate voted Thursday on a bill that embodied the compromise President Trump proposed on Saturday: $5.7 billion of wall funding along the southwest border, plus three years of legal protection for “Dreamers” and others with temporary protected status. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., voted for it.
Even though a growing number of Americans support building the wall, Democrats in Congress won’t work with Trump. Without Congress giving him the funds, Trump still has two avenues available to him to build the border wall, and he should consider both.
First, he can declare a national emergency which would grant him the authority to construct a border wall without congressional approval. Under 10 U.S. Code § 2808 of the National Emergencies Act, the president has the power during a national emergency to appropriate military constructions.
“The Secretary of Defense, without regard to any other provision of law, may undertake military construction projects, and may authorize the Secretaries of the military departments to undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces,” the law states. “Such projects may be undertaken only within the total amount of funds that have been appropriated for military construction, including funds appropriated for family housing, that have not been obligated.”
While he has this authority, most Americans disapprove of him using it to construct the border wall. Only 33 percent of registered voters support the idea of Trump invoking the National Emergency Act while 63 percent disapprove, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll.
There is, however, a second option. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., tweeted on Jan. 20 that Trump should order the military to build the border wall without declaring a national emergency.
Meadows suggests using the president’s authority under 10 U.S. Code § 274 and 284, which states the secretary of defense may order department personnel to operate machinery and construct roads, fences, and lighting installations to combat transnational crime. Given the amount of illegal immigrant gang members and narcotics crossing the border illegally, this would certainly qualify.
While going it alone would seem the fastest and most surefire way to build the border wall, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is pushing forward with a legislative plan that would grant green cards to DACA recipients. According to Axios, many consider the plan to be a fruitless venture — one conservative senator even said Kushner’s plan was “insanity.”
It’s unlikely that Democrats will accept Kushner’s amnesty plan to give green cards to DACA recipients and it will more than likely also turn off conservatives in the Republican Party.
Trump is between a rock and a hard place. With his poll numbers continuing to slide and government employees still without pay, he needs to decide fast. Democrats refuse to compromise, and Kushner is possibly isolating Trump’s supporters with the flirtation of full-blown amnesty.
Instead, it’s time Trump goes it alone and builds the wall himself.
Ryan Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a writer based in New York.
