Congress approved a border security compromise that would avert a second painful government shutdown. Regardless, President Donald Trump plans to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency in order to siphon billions of dollars from other federal coffers for his Mexican border wall.
Democrats say there is no border crisis and Trump would be using a declaration simply to sidestep Congress. Some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use this as a reason to force spending on their own priorities such as gun control.
The $1.4 billion in the bill for border barriers is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed, and would only finance a quarter of the 200-plus mi. he wanted to build. The White House said he’d sign the legislation but act unilaterally to get more. Trump plans to spend about $8 billion on border barriers, far more than Congress has given him for that purpose.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney says Trump will tap various other sources of money beyond the government funding bill that Congress passed. Trump is expected to sign the bill.
The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has returned to work at the building for the first time since lung cancer surgery in late December. According to the court’s press office, Ginsburg is attending the justices’ Friday closed-door conference at which they’re weighing whether to add new cases and finalizing opinions in cases argued in the fall.
Ginsburg missed six days of arguments and three private conferences as she recuperated from the December surgery, however the court has said she participated in the court’s work despite her absence. Ginsburg made her first public appearance since the surgery last week.
Over J-term, many students participated in study abroad programs. Opinions Editor Abby Sliva argues that students should choose these programs based off of the courses themselves and not the destination. The full story can be found here.
Kat Barrett can be reached at barr1289@stthomas.edu.