10 things you need to know today: February 16, 2019

Trump declares national emergency to fund border wall, Illinois workplace shooting leaves 6 dead, and more

President Trump
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

1. Trump declares national emergency to fund border wall

President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency and signed a funding bill Congress passed Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown. The bill includes $1.75 billion for border fencing, and Trump aims to obtain an additional $6.5 billion for wall construction. He intends to redirect money from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund and a Defense Department drug interdiction program, in addition to using military construction appropriations. The military money is only available through the emergency declaration. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized Trump's decision, which will likely face legal challenge.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.