This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump has vowed to declare a national emergency to fund his long-promised border wall with Mexico, as Congress overwhelmingly approved a border security agreement that would prevent a second damaging government shutdown.

After days of uncertainty, Trump announced his intention to support the massive $333bn spending package, which includes a sliver of what he sought for a steel wall. The Senate moved quickly, approving the bill in a vote of 83-16. Hours later the House passed the legislation 300-128. Trump is expected to seal the deal with his signature on Friday, while at the same time declaring a national emergency.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action – including a national emergency – to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.

“The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.”

The border security compromise, tucked into a sweeping 1,159-page spending bill that will fund the federal government through September, would appropriate $1.375bn for 55 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico – just a fraction of the $5.7bn Trump initially demanded for 234 miles of new steel or concrete barriers.

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A showdown over Trump’s demand for billions of dollars to build the wall, a central campaign promise, prompted the longest government shutdown in American history. The White House is confident a national emergency would allow Trump to circumvent Congress to tap funding for a wall that has been at the center of a fierce dispute with Democrats, who say such a barrier is expensive and ineffective.

The provocative decision to declare a national emergency drew sharp condemnation from Democrats and threats of legal action. It also divided Republicans, some of whom fear it sets a precedent for a future Democratic president to go around Congress.

Top Democrats immediately condemned the move.

“This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process,” the House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

“The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts and in the public, using every remedy available,” they added.

Play Video Mitch McConnell: Trump to sign funding bill but declare national emergency – video

In order to avoid another shutdown, a bipartisan group of lawmakers solidified a compromise deal late Wednesday night to fully fund the government through the end of September.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers were relieved to avoid another partial government shutdown, just weeks after a standoff over border security shuttered several federal agencies for 35 days and deprived 800,000 government employees of their paychecks.

In the Senate, several Democratic presidential contenders, including senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren opposed the measure. While in the House, a handful of liberal members, including the freshman Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, voted against the measure, arguing that Trump’s “weaponization” of enforcement agencies “does not deserve an increase in funding”.

But Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency ignited a new confrontation between the White House and Congress, as a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers expressed concern with his use of executive powers.

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“I think declaring a national emergency where there is no national emergency is not good for the president to do and not good precedent for future presidents,” said the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer.

Maine Republican Susan Collins said Trump’s use of a state of emergency was of “dubious constitutionality” and would face challenges in court.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, said: “We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the constitution.” He warned that Trump was opening a door for a future president “to impose the Green New Deal”.

But several Republicans said such an action was Trump’s only option.

“For 20 years there’s been a bipartisan refusal on Capitol Hill by both big government Republicans and Ritz-Carlton Democrats … to enforce the immigration laws of this country or to change them,” said Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana. “We need to face the issue and this is a start.”

Meanwhile, Pelosi told reporters that she would consider a legal challenge to the declaration – something most observers say is inevitable and would probably be successful.

“You want to talk about a national emergency – let’s talk about today,” Pelosi said, noting that it was the first anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, which claimed 17 lives. “That’s a national emergency. Why don’t you declare that emergency, Mr President?”

Play Video 0:55 Pelosi slams Trump's national emergency over border wall – video

And, confirming Republican fears, she said: “A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well.”

Tensions had boiled ahead of the vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, as party leaders sought assurance from the White House that the president would sign the legislation.

“Let’s all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn’t shut down,” the Republican senator Chuck Grassley said after opening prayers on Thursday morning.

Hours later, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suddenly appeared on the chamber floor and, interrupting Grassley, who was speaking at that moment, announced that Trump would sign the spending deal and declare a national emergency.

Rallying Republicans around the plan, McConnell added: “I’m going to support the national emergency declaration.”