No - Do Not Declare an Emergency at the Border
- Details
- Created: Monday, 14 January 2019 14:16
- Written by Ax D. WhiteMan
The idea of declaring an "Emergency" under the "National Emergencies Act" in order to facilitate building a wall at the Southern Border is FOOLS GOLD. The "Act" itself is a remnant of the post Nixon era when power drunk Democrats believed there would never be another Republican President.
The dynamics of a "Government Shutdown" have been artificially skewed to favor Democrats when every real world aspect of a "Government Shutdown" should favor Republicans. This current "Shut Down" is a rare opportunity to change those dynamics.
It is largely the Democrat constituency that is adversely affected by a "Shut Down." Previous "Shut Down's" have been purposefully staged to begin immediately after a Federal Pay Period, and always end as the next Pay Period approaches. This is the first time that I can remember that a Government Employee has ever missed a paycheck. It was only 3 days ago when the Democrats really began to feel any pressure from Government Employees to end this. Declaring an Emergency would give the Democrats and out, and would allow them to claim victory. It's also unlikely that it would be a conclusive act. The Emergency Declaration would be challenged in a Court, and slow walked to the Supreme Court.
The downside of the Declaring an Emergency is to create a highly visible event that could be cited by a future Democrat President to "Declare and Emergency" to confront Climate Change, Gun Violence, Health Care Access, etc. In other words, if Emergency Declarations become the norm - get ready to turn in your SUV's, guns, and Private Sector Health Insurance.
If the Republicans were smart, (even though we know they're not) they would introduce legislation to repeal the atrocious "National Emergencies Act." The repeal would, on its face appear to be an effort to limit Trump, and Democrats would be hard pressed to oppose it (but they would). Even so, it is likely that there are enough new rogue Democrats to vote with Republicans to at least get the legislation to the Senate - where it would be a huge embarrassment for Democrats to Filibuster in order to protect the Presidents ability to declare and Emergency.
The President should be prepared to hold firm on his demand for the money to build "The Wall" and continue to answer every request to "Open the Government" with:
"You need to ask Schumer to do that, there's Funding Legislation in the Senate that I'll sign, it's been there for weeks - end the Filibuster - and the "Shut Down" is over."
In the mean time, Trump should stop calling this a "Shut Down," and start calling it the "New Normal."