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AFP
Washington
Top Republican lawmakers on Sunday warned against Donald Trump declaring a national emergency to secure funds for a border wall, signaling doubts within the president’s party as a government shutdown was set to enter a fourth workweek.
Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told CNN that he would “hate” to see Trump invoke emergency powers for a wall.
“If we do that, it’s going to go to court and the wall won’t get built,” he said.
And Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, told ABC, “We don’t want it to come down to a national emergency declaration,” even if he believes Trump has the authority to do so.
Trump only recently backed away from talk of an emergency declaration, after pressing it for days as a way out of the continuing budget standoff.
Democrats have strongly opposed the idea. The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, said Sunday on ABC that “if this president is going to turn to national emergencies every time he disagrees with Congress, I’m against it.”
He urged Trump to “put an end to the shutdown and put everything on the table.”
As the partisan battle drags on, the effects of the partial shutdown have become steadily clearer, and new polls show growing public dissatisfaction. On Sunday, Trump acknowledged, at least indirectly, the mounting costs of the shutdown.
- Republicans blamed -”The damage done to our Country from a badly broken Border - Drugs, Crime and so much that is bad - is far greater than a Shutdown, which the Dems can easily fix as soon as they come back to Washington!” he said.
Many lawmakers spent the weekend in their home states -- often hearing constituents’ complaints about the shutdown -- but will return to Washington on Monday.
Trump has tried various angles to pressure Democratic negotiators, but they have not visibly budged from an offer to support some border security spending -- the figure of $1.3 billion has been floated -- but not the $5.7 billion he wants for a wall.
Two new polls indicate the Democrats may be winning the battle for public support.
The Washington Post/ABC News survey found that far more Americans blame Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown than blame the Democrats -- by 53 percent to 29 percent.
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14/01/2019
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