After Congress rejected President Trump’s request for 5.7 billion dollars for the border wall, the president declared a national emergency at the southern border. Present Trump claims this “emergency” gives him the authority to divert funds appropriated for other purposes to building the border wall.
President Trump’s emergency declaration is not just an end run around Congress. It is an end run around the Constitution. Article One of the Constitution gives Congress sole authority to allocate federal funds.
While President Trump’s order may be a particularly blatant abuse of power, it is hardly unprecedented. Most modern presidents have routinely used so-called national emergencies to expand their power, often at the expense of liberty. For example, Present Franklin Delano Roosevelt used “emergency powers” to justify internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two.
President Trump, like other recent presidents, is relying on the 1976 National Emergencies Act for legal justification for his emergency declaration. This act gives the president broad powers to declare national emergencies for almost any reason. All the president need do is inform Congress he has declared an emergency. Once the emergency is declared, the president simply needs to renew the declaration once a year to maintain a state of emergency. Since this act passed, 59 emergency declarations have been issued, with 31 of those still in effect.
Another statute giving the president broad “emergency” powers is the Defense Production Act. Under this law, the president can force private businesses to produce goods for the military. The law also enables the president to impose wage and price controls and even make loans to private businesses. All a president need do to invoke these vast powers is submit “findings” to Congress that “national security” requires the president seize near-dictatorial control of certain industries or even the entire economy. According to the Congressional Research Service, some presidents have invoked the Defense Production Act without making the required findings to Congress, and the act has been used to justly federal interference in areas having little or nothing to do with national defense.
Section 606(c) of the Communications Act gives the president “emergency” power to seize control of every television network, radio station, smartphone, laptop, and other electronic devices.
Emergency powers are not the only means by which presidents violate the Constitution. The 2001 authorization for use of military force (AUMF), which only authorizes the president to use force against those responsible for the September 11 attacks, has been used to justify military interventions that have no relationship to those attacks. The 2001 AUMF has been used to justify mass surveillance, indefinite detention, and even “kill lists.” Fortunately, Representative John Garamendi has introduced the Walter B. Jones Restoring Power to Congress Act that would pay tribute to a true champion of peace by repealing the 2001 AUMF.
Many neoconservatives and progressives who defended prior presidents’ abuses of power are critical of President Trump’s emergency declaration. These “never-Trumpers” will no doubt resume their love affair with the imperial presidency when the Oval Office is again occupied by someone who shares their agenda.
This week, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution terminating President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency. Hopefully, this precedent will be used against all future presidents who use spurious claims of national emergencies to expand their powers and shrink our liberties.
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#1: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#0)
Some of you filthy drug loving Paultards, when GW was in office, would post your hate towards Boooosh, about not building a wall, and not DEPORTING... and now we get an outsider that wants to do it, but he’s not a drug loving Paultard... and you agitate propaganda your sheeple for your AGENDA.
How convenient
GrandIsland posted on 2019-02-26 06:21:46 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#1)
As many have concluded, the United States is not a democracy. It is an oligarchy ruled by monied private interest groups.
Deckard posted on 2019-02-26 06:53:38 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#1)
Historically, in terms of sheer weight, marijuana has been Mexico's leading illicit drug export to the U.S. But last year, "the average Border Patrol agent was seizing just 25 pounds [of marijuana] for the entire year, or less than half a pound per week—a drop of 78 percent from 2013," writes David Bier, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, in the cover story of Reason's April 2019 issue.
This trend has nothing to do with increased border security, or a crackdown on the Sinaloa Cartel and its former leader, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, who was found guilty on 10 criminal counts in U.S. federal court last week. The falloff in pot smuggling, Bier argues, is a direct result of state-level legalization here in the U.S.
Deckard posted on 2019-02-26 07:01:07 Reply Private Reply
#4: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#2)
The latest Electoral College pole (November of 2016) revealed that the voting Americans top problem was EVERYTHING TRUMP CAMPAIGNED FOR... including a big fucking beautiful WALL.
Shut your Paultard fake news propaganda spreader
GrandIsland posted on 2019-02-26 07:01:25 Reply Private Reply
#5: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#3)
And you’d like to keep your AGENDA freely flowing into the US.
Your Paultard AGENDA removes you from serious debate over border security.
GrandIsland posted on 2019-02-26 07:06:17 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#5)
Deckard posted on 2019-02-26 07:17:08 Reply Private Reply
#7: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#4)
On February 18th 2019th, Gallup bannered "Record High Name Government as Most Important Problem" and reported that, out of a list of 47 national “problems,” the top ten that were selected (and the percentage of respondents who selected each) were:
More than a third of Americans think that “The government/Poor leadership” is the “Top Problem” in America.
That’s almost twice the percentage who listed the second-from-top option, “Immigration,” as being this.
Deckard posted on 2019-02-26 07:27:21 Reply Private Reply
#8: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#7)
I don’t give a fuck about your silly 2019 “Gallup” poll. They don’t fucking count. They are little people, like you. The people that voted for TRUMP in 2016 are BIG PEOPLE. Nothing out TRUMPS the 2016 ELECTORAL COLLEGE POLL ... until the next one in 2020.
Shut your intolerant Paultard shit spewing maw... Trump won. Trump promises a BIG BEAUTIFUL WALL... and the people of this country SPOKE in 2016. You wanna be a big people? Stop supporting the 6% followed Paultards.
GrandIsland posted on 2019-02-26 07:39:35 Reply Private Reply
#9: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#8)
Seek help freak show.
Coprolalia is involuntary swearing or the involuntary utterance of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. Coprolalia comes from the Greek ºÌÀÁ¿Â (kópros) meaning "feces" and »±»¹¬ (lali) from »±»µῖ½ (laleîn), "to talk".
Coprolalia is an occasional characteristic of tic disorders, in particular Tourette syndrome, although it is not required for a diagnosis of Tourette's and only about 10% of Tourette's patients exhibit coprolalia. It is not unique to tic disorders; it is also a symptom of other neurological disorders.
Deckard posted on 2019-02-26 08:05:12 Reply Private Reply
#10: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Well, Congress did give Trump $1.4 billion for the border wall so they must agree there's some emergency. Just not $5.7 billion worth of an emergency, I guess.
misterwhite posted on 2019-02-26 14:30:40 Reply Private Reply
#11: Hondo68 To: Deckard, *The Two Parties ARE the Same* (#7)
Hondo68 posted on 2019-02-26 15:00:36 Reply Private Reply
#12: sneakypete To: misterwhite (#10)
We all know why they did that. They are broadcasting to the uniformed goobers that vote in Presidential elections that it's not THEIR fault thousands of illegal aliens pour across our borders each day because THEY had offered to GIVE Trump 1.4 billion bucks to fix them problem,and he refused it!
sneakypete posted on 2019-02-26 15:39:35 Reply Private Reply