Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi warned Republicans the precedent President Trump will set if he declares a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Pelosi said the next Democratic president could declare a national emergency on gun violence.



"You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today, the one year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America," Pelosi said Thursday. "That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would. But a Democratic president can do that."



"Democratic president can declare emergencies as well," the Speaker warned. "So, the precedent that the President is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans."













REPORTER: The President just said that he will declare a national emergency when he signs this bill. Do you still plan to file a legal challenge if and when he does that?



NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: -- Did I say I was filing a legal challenge?



QUESTION: You said Democrats would challenge --



PELOSI: -- I may. That's an option, and we'll review our options. But it's important to note that when the President declares this emergency, first of all, it's not an emergency, what's happening at the border. It's a humanitarian challenge to us. The President has tried to sell a bill of goods to the American people.



Putting that aside just in terms of the President making an end run around Congress, here he said let us respect what the committee will do and then walks away from it. But in any event, the President's doing an end run around Congress about the power of the purse. You've heard me say over and over again Article One, the legislative branch, the power of the purse, the power to declare a war, many other powers listed in the Constitution, and of course the responsibility to have oversight.



So, the President is doing an end run around that. It is--we will review our options. We'll be prepared to respond appropriately to it. I know the Republicans have some unease about it no matter what they say, because if the president can declare an emergency on something that he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think of what a president with different values can present to the American people.



You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today, the one year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America. That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would. But a Democratic president can do that. Democratic president can declare emergencies as well. So, the precedent that the President is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans.



And of course, we will respond accordingly when we review our options. First we have to see what the President actually says.

Gun violence is a national emergency



Climate Change is a national emergency



Income inequality is a national emergency



Access to healthcare is a national emergency



Building a wall on the southern border is not. — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) February 14, 2019

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) opines on what he thinks are national emergencies: