Border Bill passed from U.S Senate to prevent National Emergency

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A major spending bill passed from the U.S Senate and it will effectively prevent another federal government shutdown. The legislation has forwarded to the president’s desk for a signature. There is also a question, whether Donald Trump plans to sign it. The bipartisan measure is the product of weeks of negotiations after the longest government shutdown in history. Trump demanded billions of dollars towards his campaign promise of building a wall sprawling across the entirety of the US-Mexico border.

Trump said he would be “proud” to shut the government down over his demands before later buckling to increased pressure from Republicans. The 800,000 federal employees across the country went without pay during the 35-day partial government closure.

Trump has appeared to begrudgingly accept the final bill, which reportedly does not include his funding demands for a border wall. The deadline for the president to sign the legislation was on Friday. He has signaled he would instead invoke a national emergency in order to bypass Congressional spending restrictions and avoid asking the permission of lawmakers to circumvent funding towards his border wall.

A national emergency over the border would likely face an exhaustive legal challenge, however, as its constitutionality remains unclear. The Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the president’s national emergency threats in a speech on the U.S Senate floor. He called it a tremendous mistake and a lawless act. The New York Democrat also said Trump invoking a national emergency over the nation’s southern border would be a gross abuse of power by the U.S President.