Trump Declares National Emergency to Access $3.6B for Border Wall

by Axios | 2.15.19

During today's Rose Garden announcement, President Trump laid out the administration’s plans to free up roughly $8 billion to be put toward building a wall on the southern border, $3.6 billion of which will be accessed through the declaration of a national emergency.

By the numbers: On a call with reporters Friday morning, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney announced the breakdown of those funds.

• From Congress: $1.375 billion will come from the budget deal that both chambers of Congress passed on Thursday and Trump is expected to sign into law “later today or tomorrow.”
• Through executive action: Roughly $600 million will be pulled from the Treasury’s drug forfeiture fund, and $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense’s drug interdiction program.
• From a national emergency declaration: Trump will declare a national emergency to free up about $3.6 billion from the DoD’s military construction fund.

Mulvaney noted that no money is being pulled from the Texas disaster relief fund to build the wall.

Worth noting: $8 billion is more than the $5.7 billion Trump initially demanded from Democrats. A senior administration official said that they are freeing up an extra $2.3 billion to ensure that they have enough money to build the wall.

How it's playing: Trump's decision to invoke his emergency powers has drawn backlash from both Democrats and some Republicans who are concerned about the precedent it could set for future administrations.

What's next: The $3.6 billion being accessed through the emergency declaration will likely be challenged by the courts.

Go deeper: Why Trump is declaring an emergency