Trump backs off national emergency to build border wall as shutdown is set to become longest ever
President Trump cast fresh doubt Friday on whether he would declare a national emergency to build a wall along the southern border, leaving lawmakers waiting for the president’s next move as the government shutdown was poised to become the longest in U.S. history.
“What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency,” Trump said Friday afternoon, surrounded by law enforcement officials at a White House roundtable. “I’m not going to do it so fast.”
Trump reasserted his right to build border walls via an emergency declaration, a move that would bypass a deadlocked Congress in which Democrats have blocked any new wall money. But he said he wanted to give lawmakers more time to act and did not offer a timetable for a decision.
The comments marked a shift from earlier Friday when Trump appeared on the brink of declaring a national emergency. The president has said repeatedly in recent days that he might do so, and his administration had asked agencies to begin preparations.
Lawmakers from both parties had speculated that a national-emergency declaration could clear the way for an end to the shutdown that, at 22 days long Saturday, would become the lengthiest the nation has ever endured.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-prepares-to-break-for-weekend-all-but-ensuring-longest-shutdown-in-us-history/2019/01/11/7f6e88c8-15bb-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html?utm_term=.a950b52ddc22&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1
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