*By Carlo Versano*
Two years after President Richard Nixon resigned, Congress passed and President Ford signed the National Emergencies Act of 1976 in an attempt to regulate the president's ability to declare open-ended national emergencies. The point of the law, commentators said at the time, was to give Congress the power of oversight on matters of national urgency.
With a veto-proof majority, Congress could override declarations of national emergency that were executed by the president. The law was, in essence, intended to be a check on executive power.
It is perhaps ironic then that President Trump announced he will, under the provisions of that law, declare a national emergency as a way to circumvent Congress' "power of the purse" ー in this case, the body's refusal to grant him the billions he requested in border wall funding.
Since that law was signed by President Gerald Ford, there have been 58 declarations of national emergencies, 31 of which are still in effect, according to the Federal Register.
What differentiates President Trump's emergency declaration on border security ー aside from the fact that his own administration says illegal border crossings are at [near-historic lows](https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2017-Dec/cbp-border-security-report-fy2017.pdf) ー is that it involves an issue of domestic politics rather than foreign policy. A review of the [31 national emergencies](https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-01-11/us-currently-31-other-national-emergencies-heres-what-means) currently in effect finds that nearly all of them concern issues like economic sanctions in countries like Libya and Syria, human rights abuses in places like Venezuela, or export controls.
President George W. Bush declared a national emergency in the days after 9/11 that is annually renewed, but the vast majority of the others involve international and transnational crises that many Americans probably didn't even know existed at the time they were enacted ー and certainly don't concern domestic policy. The few domestic national emergencies addressed crises like the H1N1 pandemic that were not exactly political hot button issues.
That puts the border emergency in a category of its own, and has led even some Republicans to grumble that the president is setting a precedent that will come back to bite the party when Democrats next control the executive branch.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi latched onto that concern on Thursday while she delivered remarks on the anniversary of the Parkland school shooting:
"Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? ... A Democratic president could."
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence. He argues that heavy regulations could stifle the industry, especially given competition from China. Trump says the U.S. needs a unified approach to AI regulation to avoid complications from state-by-state rules. The order directs the administration to draw up a list of problematic regulations for the Attorney General to challenge. States with laws could lose access to broadband funding, according to the text of the order. Some states have already passed AI laws focusing on transparency and limiting data collection.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
The two-sentence footnote raised serious concerns about accuracy and credibility.
