How Trump's Border Wall Differs From Past National Emergency Declarations
*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."
Concerns over inflation have become one of the biggest worries for executives. A survey from The Conference Board shows that more than 900 CEOs consider inflation a top tier concern, a major shift from last year's survey that had it as a low-level concern. Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board joined Cheddar's Opening Bell for more.
Jordan Zakarin, Media Producer at A More Perfect Union, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest from Colorado, where at least 8,700 Kroger employees walked off the job in demand of increased benefits and wages.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing rapidly approaching, clouds of controversy continue to swirl around China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority population, its surveillance state, and security for visiting athletes. Phelim Kine, China correspondent for Politico, joined Cheddar to break down the big storylines surrounding the Beijing Games and highlight what he saw as the complete disregard by top corporate sponsors like P&G, Airbnb, Intel, Visa, and Coca-Cola, for the controversies. "They spend $100 million for every Olympics that they sponsor, and they have frankly shown absolute willful indifference to any type of entreaty to essentially be more vocal about their concerns about human rights in China," he said. Kine also touched on the data privacy fears for athletes as visiting contingents are being told to carry burner phones to avoid security risks.
Texas's six-week abortion ban remains in effect after a federal appeals court ruling on Monday. The U.S. court of appeals for the fifth circuit temporarily transferred the case to the Texas Supreme Court, which is expected to leave the dispute in limbo for months to come. Katie Barlow, attorney and media editor of SCOTUSblog, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Hugh Odom, founder and president of Vertical Consultants, shared his expertise on telecommunications with Cheddar on the safety issue raised about 5G deployment by airlines. The installation was partially delayed again on Tuesday as the airlines warned of potentially catastrophic delays in a letter to the Biden administration. Later, both Verizon and AT&T relented and put a pause on some of the implementations. "The first thing the Biden administration needs to do is get everybody in the room and say, look, aviation industry, identify the problem — wireless industry, come up with a solution," said Odom.
Dave Levinthal, deputy Washington Bureau chief at Insider, joins Cheddar News to discuss Gallup's new survey that reveals more Americans leaned Republican by the end of 2021.
Women's March ATX rally, Saturday, Oct., 2, 2021, at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. An expected decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming year to severely restrict abortion rights or overturn Roe v. Wade entirely is setting off a renewed round of abortion battles in state legislatures. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman, File)
Inflation in the U.S. is only getting hotter. The 12-month inflation rate for December 2021 was the highest in nearly 40 years - continuing the trend seen at the close of 2021.
The Consumer Price Index increased 7% in the 12-month period ending in December, marking the fastest increase since 1982. Scott Wren, Senior Global Market Strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joined Cheddar's Movers for more.
If President Biden runs for re-election in 2024, he may not have anyone to debate. The Republican National Committee sent a letter to the commission on presidential debates, saying the RNC will require candidates to pledge not to participate in those general election debates. Paris Dennard, RNC national spokesperson, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
