national emergency Congress averts shutdown as Trump prepares national emergency The House and Senate approved the massive spending package that Trump is expected to sign.

Congress moved swiftly to avert another government shutdown Thursday, putting an end to one political crisis over Donald Trump's border wall as a new one approached.

Three weeks after the longest shutdown in U.S. history, the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to fund roughly one-quarter of the federal government through Sept. 30, while providing only a fraction of the funds for a border barrier that Trump demanded.


Trump reluctantly agreed to sign the measure, but only as he pursues a longshot — and legally questionable — approach to secure funding for his wall without Congress’ approval.

The White House revealed Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency just moments before the Senate vote, blindsiding and confusing Republican lawmakers who had been publicly urging the president against such a drastic step.

Democrats came out forcefully against the move, which Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi termed it "a lawless act" and "a gross abuse of the power of the presidency" that they will counter.

But Trump's plans to take executive action also appeared to set the stage for passage of the $328 billion spending package after it was clear the president would sign it. The Senate passed it on an 83-16 margin, followed by a 300-128 vote in the House a few hours later.



A small group of negotiators from both parties spent more than two weeks hammering out a compromise — which in the end, included the exact amount of money that Trump secured last year for his border barriers.



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Congress took action after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dramatically announced Trump’s decision on the floor. McConnell’s pronouncement ended days of uncertainty about whether Trump would sign the bill, or lurch the government into another shutdown.

Trump’s decision will avert a government shutdown Friday, while immediately fueling a fierce battle in the courts and Capitol Hill — a fight that Democrats in Congress say they’re eager to take on.

Trump is expected to sign the compromise bill on Friday before officially issuing an emergency declaration.

Rep. Mark Walker, a member of House GOP leadership, said he has been told that the White House is planning to use an emergency declaration to reclaim $3.5 billion money from the Pentagon’s military construction accounts, out of $8 billion total that the administration is seeking.

Trump would use a specific statute — Title X, Section 2808 — related to military construction, which has relatively narrow authority compared to other avenues that the White House had been eyeing. “From that aspect of it, I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of pushback,” Walker said after being briefed on the discussions Thursday night. Still, he added, "I’ve got to go see where that comes from."

Walker, along with conservative leaders Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, had specifically been pushing for the White House to use this specific authority, rather than the unprecedented move of taking money from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The president spent much of Thursday pouring over the legislation with aides, including lawyers from White House counsel’s office, before signaling to McConnell that he would support the bill.

Inside the White House, several aides have worried that a national emergency declaration will set a dangerous precedent, allowing a future Democratic president to draw on broad executive powers to take action on anything from gun violence to climate change.

Pelosi, who has been locked in a months-long battle with Trump over the border wall, said Democrats will “review our options,” which include a potential lawsuit against the president. Congress could also vote to “turn off” the emergency declaration.

Pelosi said Trump “is trying to make an end run around Congress” by asserting his emergency power to redirect money to the border wall from other programs.

Pelosi also noted that Republicans are uneasy about Trump’s move because a future Democratic president could attempt the same maneuver in dealing with Congress.

“Just think what a president of different values can present to the American people,” Pelosi told reporters. “A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well.”

Trump has threatened for months to declare a national emergency as a way to circumvent Congress to secure money for his signature campaign promise, a border wall that Democrats detest.

But the sudden move on Thursday — which caught most on Capitol Hill by surprise — will create a test of loyalty for Republicans.

GOP lawmakers have been privately and publicly urging Trump to avoid such a step, fearful that the expansion in powers could propel a future Democratic president to take the same step on climate change or gun violence.

McConnell announced on the floor that he would support Trump’s decision, though he had expressed skepticism of such a drastic move.

Democratic leaders also appeared caught off guard by the decision, though several Democratic-led House committees had been working on potential legal efforts to challenge Trump's long-rumored plans for executive action.

Some key Trump allies, notably Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have vocally called on Trump to take executive action after the last shutdown, in which Trump conceded to Democrats after a 35-day fight over the border barrier money.

“I’m all for the president doing an emergency declaration,” Jordan, another close Trump confidante, said in an interview Wednesday as negotiators were closing in on a deal.

Trump's decision to sign the funding compromise relieves many lawmakers' concerns about the possibility of another shutdown on Friday.



The spending package includes $1.37 billion for 55 miles of physical barrier along the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas — much less than the $5.7 billion that the White House had sought.

Republicans had claimed victory, saying that the deal includes “unprecedented investments” in physical barriers, law enforcement, counter-narcotics and humanitarian aid along the border.

They also touted “record” detention capacity for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement — an agency that some progressive Democrats have sought to defund altogether.

Earlier Thursday, McConnell vented at House Democrats for what he described as obstruction to another extension of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. The 1994 law to protect domestic violence victims is now set to temporarily expire after party leaders failed to agree on certain protections, such as people who are transgender, that Democrats sought to add.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) described the deal as a “reasonable compromise” and expects Congress to pass it this afternoon. He also touted that the bill does not provide money for Trump’s border wall, but funds “smart border security initiatives that both parties have always supported.”

Yet Democrats blamed Republicans for refusing to concede on other outstanding issues, such as back pay for thousands of federal contractors who went unpaid for 35 days during the last shutdown.

Eliana Johnson and Marianne Levine contributed to this story.