On Friday, President Trump declared a national emergency. The border crisis has reached a fever pitch. Democrats on the Hill refuse to give him the cooperation needed to build a proper border wall. So, he did what he threatened to do for weeks invoke the National Emergencies Act. And yes, you could probably guess how the liberal media reacted (via NYT):
President Trump declared a national emergency on the border with Mexico on Friday in order to access billions of dollars that Congress refused to give him to build a wall there, transforming a highly charged policy dispute into a confrontation over the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.
Trying to regain momentum after losing a grinding two-month battle with lawmakers over funding the wall, Mr. Trump asserted that the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants from Mexico constituted a profound threat to national security that justified unilateral action
“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said in a televised statement in the Rose Garden barely 13 hours after Congress passed a spending measure without the money he had sought. “It’s an invasion,” he added. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”
There's nothing lawless about the president using an emergency declaration to make available already appropriated funding for military construction of a border fence. The fence, emergency declaration, and appropriations transfer authority all derive from existing laws.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2019
Congress gave the president authority to declare emergencies via the National Emergencies Act of 1976. Congress authorized the construction of a border fence via the Secure Fence Act of 2006. And it appropriated funding for military construction projects via Public Law 115-244.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2019
There are fair *political* arguments to make against the president using a declaration of emergency to fund border fence construction, but the *legal/constitutional* arguments against it are baseless. POTUS has the authority to do this because Congress repeatedly gave it to him.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2019
There is no new legal or constitutional precedent, given that Bush and Obama used emergency declarations to unilaterally transfer appropriated funds for other purposes at least 18 times during their presidencies. https://t.co/4xX2qdgmAE
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 15, 2019
Well, first, it's not a constitutional crisis, nor is what Trump did unprecedented. Over at CBS, they decided to cut away from the presser completely because the Price Is Right was on. They cut away 21 minutes before the press conference was over. The Hill’s Joe Concha has more:
After 21 minutes, CBS just cut away from Trump’s speech and has gone back to the Price Is Right.
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) February 15, 2019
CBS cut away from President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border on Friday to return to its regularly scheduled programming of "The Price is Right" on the East Coast.
All of the broadcast and cable news networks carried the declaration and press conference that followed, with only CBS deciding to cut away after 21 minutes before the event was complete.
So, CBS, come on down! Also, what the hell? Well, you all know why, but the reaction should still elicit outrage. CBS, one of the big three (ABC, CBS, and NBC), decided to do its part within the Democrat-media complex.