Ross: Why we should embrace a national emergency over the wall
Jan 11, 2019, 8:58 AM | Updated: 8:59 am
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, left in light blue shirt and vest, walks along the border wall separating Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
There’s no question about it. President Trump says he has an absolute right to go around Congress to get money for the border wall.
As CBS’ Major Garrett reports: “The president said he is seriously considering declaring a national emergency and seizing unspent pentagon construction funds.”
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Unspent Pentagon construction funds!
This is the amazing thing about federal money – it doesn’t behave like regular money. Federal money has this mysterious ability to hide itself. And one of its favorite hiding places seems to be the Pentagon. That may be the reason it was built in such a weird shape.
But the president, being commander in chief, can tell his lawyers to draw up legal language saying “Ready or not, here I come.” And abracadabra, he gets the money, and walls are built.
And before the president’s critics protest, let me suggest that this is not such a bad idea.
For example, Democrats have always complained that the Pentagon wastes billions of dollars – because it does. One audit found that over a span of about 15 years, the Pentagon spent $32 billion developing new weapons that didn’t work. Confiscating five billion for a wall would save the defense department from itself. And at least walls don’t explode.
And once the president gets Pentagon money for the wall emergency, I’m hoping he declares an interstate highway pothole emergency – America can never be great if its wheels are out of alignment.
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