Gold Goats ‘n Guns Live – Did Trump Just Trap the Democrats to Build the Wall?

For you to consider.
Even before the Emergency order was signed last December,, back in July 2017, there was this llittle noticed House committee game, engineered probably by, wait for it, one Paul Ryan.

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

@Thomas_Wictor posted this thread:

https://twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/977788831930884096

Back in July 2017 :

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

…the House Armed Services Committee version of the annual Pentagon policy bill included a common-sense provision to make sure the Pentagon isn’t tasked with paying for the 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.”
A careful reading of this language (and that’s what we do at Taxpayers for Common Sense) points out this is a fairly broad prohibition. The armed services committees don’t ultimately control how federal dollars are spent. The Constitution preserves that role for the appropriations committees. But by saying “or otherwise made available … for the Department of Defense,” the House Armed Services Committee was foreclosing the possibility of spending any Pentagon money on this wall in a more comprehensive way.
That was the plan. And at Taxpayers for Common Sense, we supported the idea..
Enter the House Rules Committee. A little known congressional powerhouse, the Rules Committee is also called the speaker’s committee.
The Pentagon policy bill, HR 2810, needed a “rule” to allow for its consideration on the House floor.
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.
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.”
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.
This is wrong. The Department of Homeland Security, and its budget, exists to cover these and other expenses. If we keep putting non-defense requirements into the Pentagon budget, we are defeating the purpose of individual federal departments and budgets.

————
Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
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!

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
Much can be done with the $1.6 Billion given to building and fixing the border wall. It is just a down payment. Work will start immediately. The rest of the money will come – and remember DACA, the Democrats abandoned you (but we will not)!

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Then,@PaulSmehl clarified in a couple of threads.

First, @PaulSchmehl
@PaulSchmehl shed some light on what the 23rd of March letter from POTUS to the Speaker of the House actually does.

So, the first thing you have to do is go to section 7058(d) of division K of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. So, let’s go there.
Here’s the two sections. Read them. You’ll see there’s $145 million involved. Not nearly enough to build the wall.

So, what the letter is saying is POTUS is exercising his authority, given to him by Congress, to allocate up to $145 million in emergency funds to the war on terror. Nothing to do with the wall, and not nearly enough money to impact its building.
Now, can we finally put this crap about POTUS using military funds to build the wall to bed? It’s not going to happen. If he tried it, THIS Congress would impeach him. Do you really think Trump wouldn’t know that?
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/977750896099643392.html

Second:
@PaulSchmehl calls BS on the Meme which asserted that the OMNIBUS Bill was less restrictive on POTUS and the Executive than a Regular Federal budget via the 12 appropriations bills.

I stridently argued with those who were claiming that an omnibus bill was not a budget bill and therefore POTUS could do whatever he wanted with the money.
That is clearly and unequivocally false. An omnibus bill is merely an amalgamation of all 12 individual budget bills. If Trump were to ignore the bill’s instructions and do what he wanted with the money, he would be immediately impeached, and rightfully so.
So, when people said he was going to take DoD funds to build the wall using the Army Corps of Engineers, I argued against that and tried to show that it would be illegal and unconstitutional.

However, he concedes @thomasWictor’s gem of a discovery:

However, late last night there was a new development.
The inimitable @ThomasWictor found a little noticed article from last year that discussed an arcane use of the House Rules Committee that did in fact allow Trump to use DoD funds. This does not mean that those arguing that omnibus bills can be ignored were right.
Instead, what it means is that Paul Ryan has managed to use a little known rule of the House to open the door for Trump to use DoD funds to build his wall. The beauty of this approach is that Congress approved it and Trump signed it, so it’s legal.
Congress can kick and scream all the want (and I have no doubt that the Dems will scream bloody murder), but they have no leg to stand on. They can scream impeachment, but they have no grounds. Trump would be following Congress’ instructions in using those funds.
Now, Congress could scramble to close the hole by legislation, but what do you think the chances are that the legislation would ever make it past the Rules Committee? The same committee that created the hole in the first place? Not a chance.
So, the door is open. Trump can legally use DoD funds to build the wall. But, it didn’t come from the much-maligned recently-passed omnibus bill. It came from a DoD funding bill passed in December of last year.
This is a most delightful use of perfectly legal means to circumvent the obstructionist Dems and further POTUS’ agenda. And Paul Ryan did it. I have no doubt he did it with the full knowledge and approval of POTUS.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/977971725743902720.html