Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on President Trump to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall if, after the three-week government funding deal that was announced Friday afternoon to re-open the government, the Democrats were still unwilling to compromise on wall funding.
“Come February the 15th, if the Democrats still say: ‘Go to hell on the wall, you get a dollar, that’s it.’ They basically tell Trump, ‘I’m not going to do with you what I did with Bush and Obama,’ then I hope he will go the emergency route,” he told Fox News.
The legality of such a move has been debated and President Trump did consider it during the longest government shutdown in history.
“We don't need to shut the government down, we need to secure the border,” Graham added. “And to me, the last best chance to do this win-win is between now and Feb. 15.”
Graham urged Democrats to negotiate with President Trump in the next three weeks, complaining that all House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has done on the border wall negotiations is “say no.”
"To my Democratic friends, you've voted for wall funding [in the past]," he pointed out.
“This president’s willing to give a better life to the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), TPS (Temporary Protected Status) populations,” he emphasized, “the TPS recipients are going to lose their legal status and this president’s willing to work with them if he can get something in return: securing our border.”
Earlier this month, Graham made headlines for arguing that if President Trump caved on his $5 billion demand for border wall funding it would be the end of his presidency.
“If he gives in now, that’s the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president," he told Fox's Sean Hannity at the time. "That’s the probably the end of his presidency. Donald Trump has made a promise to the American people. He’s going to secure our border."