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.”

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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 11:34 · Joe Sommerlad]

Hello and welcome to The Independent's US politics liveblog as talks to avert a new government shutdown continue ahead of Friday's midnight deadline.

If you didn't get any Valentine's Day cards this morning, remember: things could be worse.

You could be the president of the United States.

[14 February 2019 11:43 · Joe Sommerlad]

The story so far.

Having initially said he was "not happy" with the terms of a deal negotiated in Congress to grant border wall funding and avert a second government shutdown, the president appears to be close to doing so.

Under the terms of the agreement thrashed out earlier this week between Republicans and Democrats, Mr Trump would receive just under $1.4bn (£1.1bn) in federal funding for his proposed Mexico border wall, well short of the $5.7bn (£4.4bn) he originally demanded.

“I can't say I'm happy. I can't say I'm thrilled,” Mr Trump said on Tuesday. “But either way, the wall's getting built”.

The thought of another shutdown, following the 35-dayer that was brought to a close in late January and delayed the State of the Union and saw thousands of federal employees go unpaid, was clearly unpalatable to the president.

So much for the art of the deal.

[14 February 2019 11:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

The president hit out at the "Radical Left" yesterday in thanking his party for their work on the negotiations.

[14 February 2019 11:48 · Joe Sommerlad]

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has taken to Twitter to criticise California for wasting government money on a bullet train project, demanding the state return the the $3.5bn (£2.7bn) it received to pay for the high-speed line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Which, if they did so, would go a long way to filling in the funding gap to pay for the wall. Simples!

[14 February 2019 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

The project in question, commenced in 2013, is certainly costly. It is predicted to eat up $77bn (£60bn) in total and the 520-mile Frisco to LA leg of its track would not be opened until the early 2030s.

It will certainly be fast, however, the bullet capable of travelling at 220 miles per hour as it roars between the two cities.

[14 February 2019 12:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

  ↵

California's new Democratic governor Gavin Newsom has wasted no time in issuing a response, parroting Mr Trump's own catchphrase with obvious relish.

[14 February 2019 12:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Back to the border security deal.

Failure to come to an agreement by midnight on Friday would again see the operating funds expire for the agencies that employ about 800,000 workers at the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and others.

Without the necessary signatures, the impact on those agencies would see the shuttering (once again) of key government programmes, from national parks maintenance and air traffic controller training programmes to the collection and publication of important data for financial markets.

[14 February 2019 12:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

To put the agreement currently tabled in perspective, the $1.4bn (£1.1bn) the president would receive under the deal would buy 55 miles of wall on the southwestern border of the US.

Again, that's a long way from the 2,000-mile barrier Candidate Trump promised, which, as you will no doubt recall, was supposed to be paid for by Mexico.

[14 February 2019 13:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, in regular contact with the White House, said Mr Trump was "inclined to take the deal and move on."

But Mr Graham also told reporters that the president would then look elsewhere to find more money to build a border wall and was "very inclined" to declare a national emergency to secure the funds for the project.

Such a move would be likely to spark a court battle, as it is Congress and not Mr Trump that decides how federal funds are spent.

Several leading Republicans have cautioned Mr Trump against taking the unilateral action.

[14 February 2019 13:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

The new agreement thrashed out in Congress seeks to address the "humanitarian crisis" conditions the president warns is seeing the US infiltrated by undocumented migrants and a flow of illegal drugs from its impoverished southern neighbours.

The bill's introduction could see the government hire 75 new immigrant judge teams to help reduce a huge backlog of cases involving asylum seekers at the southwestern border and hundreds of additional border patrol agents could be brought in.

Hoping to reduce the violence and economic distress in Central America that fuels northbound immigration, the bill also provides $527m (£411m) in aid to continue humanitarian assistance to those countries.

The House Appropriations Committee said the bill would set a path for reducing immigrant detention beds to about 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year, down from a current count of approximately 49,060.

Democrats sought reductions, arguing that would force federal agents to focus on apprehending violent criminals and repeat offenders and discourage arrests of undocumented immigrants for minor traffic violations, for example.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is run by Republicans, said there were provisions in the bill that could result in an increase in detention beds from last year.

Chairwoman Nita Lowey said the bill would improve medical care and housing of immigrant families in detention and expand a programme providing alternatives to detention.