Trump declares national emergency to fund the wall

House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said they’ll take action “in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public”, to oppose Trump’s declaration of an emergency.

Pelosi and Schumer, the Democrats’ two most senior officials, said Trump’s decision to declare an emergency is unlawful, and would “shred the Constitution” by circumventing Congress’ power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. Pelosi and Schumer say Trump would be using money needed “for the security of our military and our nation.”

Democrats  can file lawsuits and force congressional votes to block Trump’s money transfers. Trump could veto the legislation should it pass.

Since you’re here … we have a small favour to ask. Three years ago we set out to make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers. We decided to seek an approach that would allow us to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford.

More than one million readers have now supported our independent, investigative journalism through contributions, membership or subscriptions. We want to thank you for all of your support. But we have to maintain and build on that support for every year to come.

The Guardian is editorially independent – our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.