Trump's declaring a national emergency to get his wall. He's forcing a constitutional crisis.

[DonViejo]

Analysis: The president made his move. Now, the courts will decide who really has the power over the wall.

Feb. 15, 2019, 7:30 AM EST
By Jonathan Allen

WASHINGTON — Congress knew President Donald Trump thought there was a border crisis when it voted to curb his wall Thursday.

In the arcane language of House and Senate appropriators, endorsed by veto-proof majorities in both chambers, lawmakers said Trump could have no more than $1.375 billion to build 55 new miles of steel fencing and specifically cited the risk to law enforcement in banning him from constructing solid walls.

It was a resounding and explicit rejection of the idea that there is a national emergency requiring billions of dollars to build a border wall. And that judgment was rendered at a time when Trump has been making a very public case — in speeches, interviews and tweets — that there is a "humanitarian and security crisis" and after he shut down the government for 35 days to make his point.

This is not a case in which an act of God or war struck when Congress was dormant; lawmakers reacted — just not in the way the president had hoped.

Put simply, Congress heard Trump's plea for emergency funding and used its primary authority under the Constitution — the power of the purse — to say no.

That's not an answer Trump likes to hear. So he's not taking it.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-asked-wall-he-s-forcing-constitutional-crisis-n971911