US senate passes border bill as Trump prepares to declare national emergency

As questions remain over whether the president will sign the bill

Trump 'not happy' with border wall deal proposed by congressional negotiators

The US Senate has passed a major spending bill that would effectively avoid another federal government shutdown, sending the legislation to the president’s desk for a signature.

Now, the only question is whether Donald Trump intends to sign it.

The bipartisan measure is the product of weeks of negotiations after the longest government shutdown in history, in which Mr Trump demanded billions of dollars towards his campaign promise of building a wall sprawling across the entirety of the US-Mexico border.

At the time, he said he would be “proud” to shut the government down over his demands -- before later buckling to increased pressure from Republicans and federal employees across the country, 800,000 of whom went without pay during the 35-day partial government closure.

Mr Trump has appeared to begrudgingly accept the final bill, which reportedly does not include his funding demands for a border wall.

The deadline for the president to sign the legislation is on Friday.

He has signaled he would instead invoke a national emergency in order to bypass Congressional spending restrictions and avoid asking the permission of lawmakers to circumvent funding towards his border wall.

A national emergency over the border would likely face an exhaustive legal challenge, however, as its constitutionality remains unclear.

In a speech on the US Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the president’s national emergency threats, calling it a “tremendous mistake and a “lawless act.”

The New York Democrat also said Mr Trump invoking a national emergency over the nation’s southern border would be a “gross abuse of power by the president.”

Follow updates as they happened below

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Key Points

• Senate signs border bill
• The Senate has confirmed William Barr to become the next attorney general of the US
• Shocking interview reveals discussion at highest levels of government about removing Trump from office
• President set to sign border security deal after all to avert shutdown
• Trump hits out at costly California rail project
• Andrew McCabe speaks out. Trump lashes out

[14 February 2019 13:40 · Joe Sommerlad]

Issues still outstanding and up for discussion include whether to include back pay for federal contractors who missed their paychecks during the first shutdown and an extension of the Violence Against Women Act, which is due to expire on Friday.

Senior Democrat and House majority leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Wednesday that "99 percent" of the agreement was complete and that he expects to be able to vote on the finalised legislation on Thursday.

"I think that this is going to pass," added assistant speaker Ben Ray Lujan.

[14 February 2019 14:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

In other Trump news, the president's former campaign manager Paul Manafort was last night ruled to have breached his plea deal with FBI special counsel Robert Mueller by lying to prosecutors, meaning there is little chance of his being granted a lighter sentence when he appears before a judge on 5 March.

Here's more from the one and only Henry Austin.

[14 February 2019 14:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

More preposterously, Clark Mindock says the president has spent $50,000 (£39,000) on a room-sized "golf simulator" for the White House.

[14 February 2019 14:50 · Clark Mindock]

With all the talk of passing a budget in Washington to avert yet another shutdown, one might be excused to forget that Russia still looms large over Mr Trump's presidency.

While we would never assume our lovely audience would forget those ongoing investigations, here's the latest on Russia and its efforts to impact US politics.

[14 February 2019 15:02 · Clark Mindock]

Mr Trump railed on former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe after he broke his silence in an interview with CBS saying that he ordered an obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigation into the president so that it would be documented — and therefore more difficult to be squashed if he were removed from his post.

The president is not pleased:

 

[14 February 2019 15:30 · Clark Mindock]

In between budget negotiations, the president has found time to chime in to call for the resignation of one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

Representative Ilhan Omar has been on the receiving end of some hefty criticism over her suggestion that some politicians might make decisions in favour of Israel because of the influence of the pro-Israel lobby. But, while she has apologised for the specific language she used (she maintains her position that lobbying money is detrimental), she will not  step down from her seat in Congress.

Instead, she responded to Mr Trump by flipping the script:

[14 February 2019 15:50 · Clark Mindock]

[14 February 2019 16:10 · Clark Mindock]

Earlier in the president held a rally in El Paso, Texas, to drum up support for his border wall and energise his base.

Mr Trump may have stretched the truth a bit when discussing the crowd sizes he saw there:

[14 February 2019 16:25 · Clark Mindock]

Among the revelations today from former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe is that there were talks of removing Mr Trump from office in the US Justice Department.

That included speculation on who in the president's cabinet could be convinced to back an effort under the 25 Amendment, which is one of the constitutional avenues by which a president can be removed from office.

[14 February 2019 16:34 · Clark Mindock]