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Post #2621 - interesting.

Perhaps then both sides were correct. Those of us who are saying that Trump cannot spend monies on anything he likes, is governed by Appropriations, is governed by the Constitution, and cannot simply have the Army Corps of Engineers construct a wall - were correct.

Those who say that Trump is going to use the DoD to build the wall may be correct, in that, an arcane House rule was passed that bypasses the prohibition in the bill, to wit:

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-07-19/congress-slyly-diverts-pentagon-money-to-fund-donald-trumps-border-wall

"Section 1039. Rule of construction regarding use of Department of Defense funding of a border wall. None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this act or otherwise made available for the fiscal year 2018 for the Department of Defense may be used to plan, develop or construct any barriers, including walls or fences, along the international border of the United States."

But then the article says this:

An amendment was offered by Republican Reps. Steven Palazzo and Trent Kelly from Mississippi (which has coastline but no land border) to strike Section 1039. That means Pentagon money could be spent to construct a border wall. In the normal process of things, this amendment would have been accepted by the Rules Committee and then debated and voted on by the full House of Representatives. But nothing about this amendment can be called normal.

I am still not convinced that President Trump has this authority. As I stated yesterday and this morning, it is against the law to spend money on things that were not appropriated for a very specific purpose.

If this arcane House rule does allow him to do so.....well, that is unprecedented as far as I know. I hope it's true, but waiting to see.

Again, I guess we will see. What adds to the confusing mixture is Trump's tweet from this morning:

Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M! The Rules Committee took this one amendment and labeled it, "proposed to be adopted." In the arcana of House rules, this means that voting for the rule governing consideration of the bill was also voting for this amendment. This is known as a "self-executing rule." The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York, offered an amendment to strike the self-executing portion of the rule and was defeated in committee on a party-line vote of 4-8. On the House floor, the vote on the full rule passed. And at the end of a long and exhausting day (and story), that means Pentagon money can be used to construct a border wall. Talk about governing under the cover of darkness.

heres an article that explains why its legal:

Let’s talk about what the President can and can’t do for this Omnibus Bill. There’s a lot of discussion both ways so let’s examine how money gets allocated & spent in the US Government:

1. Congress allocates money to be spent. The President spends the allocated money.

2. Once Congress allocates money, their job is oversight of the money being spent. They don’t spend the money and have no say HOW it gets spent as long as it’s spent legally. That’s their job to monitor with oversight.

3. Once the President is given the money with the instructions to spend it, he has a number of choices to make in spending it. There are some rules he has to follow & some of the money is fungible and some isn’t.

4. However there are some other factors that are in play here. One of them is that the President has declared a Human Rights Emergency AND has notified Congress that he’s invoking the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 5. This opens up new options.

6. By making these two declarations President Trump has just communicated that he has the authority to NOT spend any funds he doesn’t deem necessary and will return them to the US Treasury. So, funds for Planned Parenthood? He can simply not allocate the funds.

7. Also, these declarations make some funds fungible. For instance if he determines that building a Wall on the Southern Border is a defense against Human Trafficking? He can move funds from anywhere else in the Defense Dept Allocation & simply build the Wall.

8. Congress is powerless to stop cash reallocations on an omnibus bill AND cannot stop the DOD from taking measures under a declared Emergency. 9. Despite their language in the Omnibus Bill about the Border Wall, it is trumped by the State of Emergency that Trump declared.

8) So in summary - This will go to the Courts. Congress will sue the President over the Border Wall. But here’s how it will play out - Congress and the President are co-equal branches with different functions. Congress allocates. The President spends.

9) The President has National Security as his Primary Responsibility and it’s his job to use whatever funds and declarations he needs to for that job. No Court in this Nation (except corrupt on the take Judges) would EVER rule against a President for exercising that authority.

10) In the end the Supreme Court (yes, that’s where it will end) will fully VALIDATE the President’s Constitutional Authority & the Wall will be built.

SkyPilot, as always, I appreciate your good research.

At the end of the day, Trump can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

It's what he has done his whole career.

He makes plans and knows intuitively how to get to his goal, despite obstacles.

And he fights, unlike the usual mediocre politicians.

We were not part of the (certain) conversations he had with Ryan and Mitchell. We know what was public and the opinions of "pundits."

I expect Trump to win in the end, whether this was a lost battle or a strategy.