*By Conor White*
As the government shutdown drags on, calls from some conservative corners have increased for President Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get federal employees back to work while diverting funds to build a border wall. However, conservative radio show host Erick Erickson is cautioning the president against doing just that.
On Monday, President Trump told reporters he would prefer not to call a national emergency, but stopped short of ruling it out entirely.
"I'm not looking to call a national emergency. This is so simple, you shouldn't have to," he said. "Now, I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I'm not looking to do that because this is too simple."
Erickson said President Trump and the GOP should not be nearsighted when considering their options to solve the shutdown.
"A future progressive president could look at this president and says 'Hey, he declared a national emergency on this because he thought it was a national emergency ー I'm going to do it on my pet issue,'" Erickson said.
"The president never wants to be in a position, because of respect for the office, to set precedents his successor could abuse," he added.
Erickson acknowledged, however, that Trump's other option ー negotiating with Democrats ー won't be acceptable to his supporters.
"I think if the president were to cave on this with \[House Speaker\] Nancy Pelosi, he would hurt himself with his base," Erickson told Cheddar.
Erickson believes the president has done a bad job of communicating to the public that the $5 billion is not just for a border wall, but also for more border patrol agents and customs enforcement, and says the only way to fix it is to talk directly to the American people.
"I think at this point he's got to hit the campaign trail and make the case," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/should-trump-declare-a-national-emergency-to-end-shutdown).
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
A new report finds the Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress.
A new poll finds U.S. adults are more likely than they were a year ago to think immigrants in the country legally benefit the economy. That comes as President Donald Trump's administration imposes new restrictions targeting legal pathways into the country. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds Americans are more likely than they were in March 2024 to say it’s a “major benefit” that people who come to the U.S. legally contribute to the economy and help American companies get the expertise of skilled workers. At the same time, perceptions of illegal immigration haven’t shifted meaningfully. Americans still see fewer benefits from people who come to the U.S. illegally.
Shares of Tylenol maker Kenvue are bouncing back sharply before the opening bell a day after President Donald Trump promoted unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism. Trump told pregnant women not to use the painkiller around a dozen times during the White House news conference Monday. The drugmaker tumbled 7.5%. Shares have regained most of those losses early Tuesday in premarket trading.
