The American President even asserted that he had the power to declare a national emergency to build the wall without Congress. He claimed without offering evidence that previous presidents have told him they wished they had built a wall themselves. Mr Trump sustained that most workers support the shutdown and that the “safety net is going to be having a strong border because we’re going to be safe.” For workers who won’t be able to pay their rent, Trump suggested that landlords would “work with” them. Just five House GOP lawmakers voted with Democrats on a spending bill that would operate the Department of Homeland Security until Feb. 8, and seven Republicans supported separate legislation that would reopen the rest of the federal government through Sept. 30. Some influential Republicans have struggled to stay aligned behind Trump in the face of the shutdown.
Trump said he had formed a Pence-led working group that would be meeting with Hill staff over the weekend to come up with a solution to the impasse. Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center, said Trump could theoretically use the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to declare a national emergency. That would allow the Pentagon to reprogram funds from Army civil works projects to any Army national defense project, including the wall.
