Judge stymies Trump's border wall by invoking GOP law targeting Obama [View all]

[babylonsister]

Judge stymies Trump's border wall by invoking GOP law targeting Obama

What goes around, Republicans are learning, comes around.
By DAVID ROGERS
12/14/2019 06:39 AM EST


President Donald Trump’s border wall is facing a surprising new legal hurdle down in Texas: an obscure legislative provision crafted by House Republicans in 2014 when the GOP was targeting then-President Barack Obama’s budget powers.

The amendment, carried forward into current law, has resurfaced with a vengeance in El Paso, Texas. U.S District Court Judge David Briones has been quoting back its words in a series of rulings against Trump’s decision to take $3.6 billion from military construction projects to expedite his wall.

As first adopted, the Republican language specifically prohibited Obama from taking any step to “eliminate or reduce funding for any program, project, or activity as proposed in the President’s budget request” until it's cleared with Congress.

The triggering event was a relatively narrow dispute in 2013 over funding for space exploration. But when they were enacted in Jan. 2014, the restrictions applied government-wide. And a year later, under full Republican control, Congress added the word “increase” alongside “eliminate or reduce” funding.

What goes around, in other words, comes around.

But what’s most remarkable is how much the legislative phrasing — aimed squarely at Obama — applies directly to the current fight involving Trump.

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https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/14/judge-trump-border-wall-obama-084540?cid=apn&fbclid=IwAR3RWoEy5k_B6h4zNVPw-nfoE7rd3f70qIUSOOm7dtUj-Bki2NoI7DwyP8s