It remains to be seen if Donald Trump learned anything from his toe-to-toe with Speaker Pelosi and the House Democrats. Two days ago, Mr. Trump announced that the Federal government would reopen for three weeks, but that he retained the right, if no agreement on his vanity wall had by then been reached, to declare a national emergency. Yesterday, Nick Mulvaney, Trump's interim chief of staff, voiced his belief that Mr. Trump might indeed declare such an emergency, should there be no consensus on wall funding.
Here's the deal. Even in so specialized a context as this, there's a possible workaround. In order to use the National Emergencies Act in this or any situation, a President must specify the particular provisions of the Act he or she wishes to invoke, and must notify Congress of the decision. After that, however, Congress retains some ability to limit this Executive Branch power.
If each house of
Congress were to pass a resolution to that effect, any existing state of emergency could be terminated. Emergencies can even be rescinded, though that's trickier and more demanding. For Congress to rescind a declared emergency, not only
must they pass a joint resolution, but the President must sign it.
Good luck on that last, unless the several Republicans holding Senate seats up for re-election in 2020 see their own approval ratings keeping pace with Mr. Trump's - that is, spiraling downward.
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