2/7/19
Inside the White House, the Trump team is increasingly aware that the president is trapped. Facing a Republican Party unwilling to back another government shutdown or a national emergency declaration to build his border wall, President Donald Trump is in an unfamiliar position, according to multiple White House officials and lawmakers: prepared, potentially, to accept a compromise foisted on him by Congress. Only a few days ago, Trump called a committee tasked with hammering out a border-security deal "a waste of time.” But he seemed warm to the idea of a bipartisan deal on Thursday after he met with Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Though the White House has worked to prepare an emergency declaration invoking the president’s sweeping executive powers, several West Wing aides have warned that invoking it would alienate some conservatives who have otherwise been loyal to the White House. Lawmakers and activists on the right have been critical allies of the president on judicial nominations and have stressed that an emergency declaration could set a precedent for a future Democratic president to take far-reaching action on climate change or gun violence. Trump has stopped musing as much about a national emergency, both publicly and privately. Republicans have warned the White House against testing the president’s emergency authority.
Prominent conservative publications from National Review to The Wall Street Journal editorial board have also opposed the move, the latter warning it would “set a bad precedent that conservatives who believe in the separation of powers could live to regret.” Trump also might lose a vote in the Senate if he followed through with an emergency declaration. Just four Republicans would have to oppose him for a resolution of disapproval to be passed — an embarrassing outcome that would force him to issue his first veto. Meanwhile, both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have signaled that they are opposed to signing another short-term spending bill to allow negotiations to stretch beyond next Friday. And due to new House rules adopted by Democrats that require a three-day review of major legislation, it’s officially crunch time for Congress. “We really have until, basically, Sunday to file the papers. So they’re going to have to in the next 24 to 48 hours agree, if there’s going to be a deal,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). That makes it all the more likely that Trump will be forced to choose between two unpalatable options: a bipartisan deal served up by lawmakers, or executive action that falls short of an emergency declaration. So even as Democrats were feeling good on Thursday about avoiding a shutdown, they weren’t counting anything out just yet. “I can’t predict what the president is going to do from tweet to tweet,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
