Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and President Trump reached a deal whereby Trump would sign the bipartisan budget agreement and McConnell would support a declaration of a national state of emergency by Trump. Then on February 15, Trump signed the budget deal. The bipartisan agreement provides $1.375 billion for his wall, not the $5.7 billion he demanded. This deal averts another shutdown.
After signing the budget agreement, Trump then declared a National Emergency, which would allow him to divert funds to build (or finish) his wall on our Southern border with Mexico. Under the national emergency, Trump will pull $600 million from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund; $2.5 billion from the Pentagon's drug interdiction program; and $3.5 billion from the Pentagon's military construction budget.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history cost the economy $11 billion due to lost output from federal workers, delayed government spending, and reduced demand. That does not, of course, include the suffering of about 800,000 unpaid government workers and their families.
Under the National Emergencies Act, the President may declare a state of emergency only when "the life of the nation is threatened by war, invasion, general insurrection, disorder, natural disaster or other public emergency" and if the ordinary laws and government powers are not sufficient to restore peace and order.
Clearly, that is not the case here. There is no threat at our Southern border. The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in more than a decade. And studies have found no link between immigration and crime, and some have found lower crime rates among immigrants. There is no state of emergency. If there is one, it is one of Trump’s own making.
The best evidence of a lack of a national emergency is the January 29, 2019, Worldwide Assessment of the Intelligence Community, which notably does not include any threat to the nation at our Southern border with Mexico.
Congress has acted and Trump signed the bipartisan budget agreement. It would be inconsistent for Trump to have signed the bipartisan budget agreement, which signals his approval, and then turn around and declare a state of national emergency on our Southern border.
Expect lawsuits testing on which branch go the federal government — the House or the executive — controls the budget, the extent of the National Emergency Act, and whether Trump abused his executive authority in this matter.