By Rebecca Ballhaus, Kristina Peterson and Peter Nicholas 

WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over border security, bypassing Congress in an effort to divert money from elsewhere in the government to pay for the construction of additional barriers along the southern U.S. border.

Mr. Trump also said he would sign the bipartisan spending bill that will keep the government funded through the fall and allocates $1.3 billion for 55 miles of border barriers -- far less than the $5.7 billion he president had asked for. Unsatisfied with the amount set aside by Congress for barriers, Mr. Trump plans to also draw roughly $6.7 billion from military and other sources, without the approval of Congress. The move was likely to draw immediate court challenges.

In remarks at the White House, Mr. Trump defended the actions as critical to national security. "We're talking about an invasion of our country," he said. At another point, however, he suggested an emergency declaration wasn't necessary. "I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support the declaration, but the move was met with opposition from other lawmakers in both parties, who called it unconstitutional or unnecessary.

"The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in a joint statement. "The Congress cannot let the President shred the Constitution."

Republican lawmakers also criticized the president's plan, saying it undermined Congress and set a dangerous precedent if future Democratic presidents sought to declare emergencies over their priorities, such as climate change.

"I don't think that this is a matter that should be declared a national emergency," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said.

Mr. Trump said he anticipated that he would be sued. "We will possibly get a bad ruling. And then we'll get another bad ruling. And then we'll end up in the Supreme Court and hopefully we'll get a fair shake," he said.

The spending bill Mr. Trump plans to sign Friday is a $333 billion package of seven bills. In addition to the $1.38 billion in wall funds, it includes money for new equipment at ports of entry, 600 new customs officers, opioid-detection equipment and other technology.

Mr. Trump said he was satisfied with the non-barrier funding, even suggesting it might be too much. "I don't know what to do with all the money they are giving us. It's crazy."

Democrats had offered a similar amount of wall funding to the president in December, and he rejected it, leading to the five-week government shutdown -- the longest in U.S. history -- that ended last month.

In a largely ad-libbed address Friday, Mr. Trump sought to play down the drama of his declaration, noting they had been put in place before. He added: "There's rarely been a problem. They sign it, nobody cares."

Previous presidents have signed emergency declarations, including those related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Iraq war, but not for initiatives that Congress declined to fund.

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Friday that the president would seek to divert about $6.7 billion from elsewhere in the government to build 234 miles of steel bollard wall.

Included in that will be $2.5 billion that Mr. Trump will divert from the Department of Defense's counterdrug efforts, $600 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund and $3.6 billion from military-construction efforts, Mr. Mulvaney said. The military-construction bucket can only be accessed through an emergency declaration.

"We have a chance of getting close to $8 billion," Mr. Trump said, before then suggesting he didn't need the full amount. "Whether it's $8 billion, $2 billion or $1.5 billion, it's going to build a lot of wall," he said.

On Friday, the administration declined to describe the plans for the new barriers wall in detail, and officials haven't said where they want to locate the new barriers.

A senior administration official said the White House was still reviewing which military-construction projects would be affected by the emergency declaration and would seek to target projects repairing facilities that "might be able to wait a couple of months into next year."

Mr. Trump said Friday that he was targeting projects that "didn't sound too important to me."

Influential Republicans had urged Mr. Trump not to siphon money from the military to build the wall. "I am concerned about taking military funds for any other purpose," said Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

Democrats said they would challenge any efforts to move money around without congressional approval, including possibly filing a lawsuit.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he would support a resolution to terminate an emergency declaration and that he intends to "pursue all other available legal options."

Some organizations in recent days vowed to file lawsuits if the president went forward with his declaration. Hundreds of people or organizations -- including advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and landowners along the Mexican border -- could also potentially claim harm from the emergency declaration, allowing them to sue. States and local governments potentially could challenge the reappropriation as unlawful as well.

Immigration hawks, who had attacked the spending bill passed by Congress for not having adequate funds for the wall, were divided over the president's moves.

"The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot," Ann Coulter said on a Los Angeles talk radio program.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), an ally of the president, called the declaration a "less-than-ideal last resort" but said he supported the decision. "He feels like this is a key moment in his presidency, and he's right."

Federal law doesn't define an emergency. The first formal emergency proclamation was issued by President Wilson in 1917, limiting the transfer of U.S.-owned ships to foreigners during World War I, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. President George W. Bush declared 13 national emergencies, and President Obama declared 12. There are now 30 national emergencies in effect, according to the service, including those related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Iraq war.

In the 1970s, Congress passed the National Emergencies Act, a measure that placed limits on presidential discretion. Among other provisions, it allows Congress to terminate an emergency declaration.

--Louise Radnofsky, Andrew Duehren and Alex Leary contributed to this article.

Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com, Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2019 14:50 ET (19:50 GMT)

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