Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) made it clear today that a move by the president to declare a national emergency to fund the construction of a wall on the United States’ border with Mexico would fail.
“I would hate to see it.,” said Johnson. “Using that act, it would be — in this instance, it would be a far larger act than has ever occurred in the past, so I’d prefer not. Primarily because if we do that, it’s going to go to court and the wall won’t get built.”
Johnson, who does support such a barrier, stuck with other GOP talking points, urging the support of Democrats for negotiating funding for the wall. Democrats have already passed legislation to reopen the government, but Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been unwilling to allow those bills to be voted on in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Trump has backed off somewhat over the last few days, instead moving to get his funding in somewhat more traditional methods, while still holding the government hostage due to his government shutdown.
Nevertheless, President Trump has kept the option of invoking a national emergency on the table. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also said today that Trump is still considering the move.
“I asked him, ‘Mr. President, if you want to go down the emergency path, I stand with you.’ He said just 30 minutes ago, ‘That’s my last — last option. I think the legislative route is the best way to go. Let’s make a deal, but I’ll do it if I had to,'” Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Johnson is seeking to take some of the pressure off of Federal employees by introducing a bill on Monday to get paychecks to those workers.
View the discussion below:
Image via screen capture from video source.