Wall 1, New School 0

[Bicycle Bill]

at least according to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-NC).

On Sunday's "Face The Nation" show, Sen. Graham defended the possibility of taking money away from building a middle school in Kentucky in order to erect President Donald Trump’s border wall, saying children need a “secure border” before a school.

Host Margaret Brennan noted that some $3.6 billion of diverted funds could come from “military construction efforts, including construction of a middle school in Kentucky, housing for military families, improvements for bases.”  She asked Graham, “Aren’t you concerned some of these projects ... are now going to possibly be cut out?”

Graham responded that “it’s better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border.”  He promised the kids would eventually get their school, but added, “Right now we’ve got a national emergency.”   (right ... in fact, it's so serious a national emergency that once the guy who declared it got done with the announcement of the 'emergency' he hopped onto his taxpayer-provided private jet and flew, at taxpayer expense, to the private country club which he owns to play, again on the taxpayer's dime, his 171st round of golf since taking the oath of office, then spent Saturday night watching 'SNL' so he could rage-tweet about it on Sunday.  BTW, that works out to golfing an average of once every 4½ days ... but he had the balls to criticize Obama for the amount of golf he played during eight years as POTUS?)

My only question is how in the hell can Graham breathe with his head stuck so far up Trump's ass?

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

Why is the federal government funding a school in Kentucky? We are paying a lot to fund renovations and tear-down/rebuilds of numerous schools, all from local dollars. Half of this situation should be a false choice, though all of the other half is a bad idea.

[BoSoxGal]

It’s a middle school to be built on Fort Cambell in Kentucky - to be attended by the children of military families housed on base. The US military builds and maintains schools all over this country and on military bases around the world.

[Lord Jim]

Long Run, I believe it's a school on a military base...

ETA:

(cross posted w/BSG)

[Bicycle Bill]

Speaking of Trump and his golf game, you notice he never brags (or if he has I've missed it) about how good a golfer he is?  I wonder what kind of numbers he puts up for 18 holes.

I also wonder what would happen if an impartial observer, like one of the Secret Service agents, were to somehow follow him for a round and keep a surreptitious scorecard, then compare it with the card that Trump claims.  Maybe if we were to catch him cheating at golf, THEN Congress or someone will be moved to take action against him.

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

It’s a middle school to be built on Fort Campbell in Kentucky

Thanks, that's what I get for being lazy and not looking it up.

[RayThom]

Speaking of Trump and his golf game, you notice he never brags (or if he has I've missed it) about how good a golfer he is?  I wonder what kind of numbers he puts up for 18 holes...

... and then he headed of to the back nine.

‘He hit the ball on the screws’: Sen. 'Kiss-Ass' Graham details President Trump’s improbable 73
https://www.golf.com/tour-news/2017/10/ ... able-round

[Lord Jim]

No member of the US Senate has disappointed me more than Lindsey Graham...

It's as though his conscience died along with John McCain...

In addition to this garbage about the "national emergency" he's now getting ready as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold the same sort of diversionary rabbit hole show trial hearings that Bob Goodlatte used to hold when the GOP controlled the House Judiciary Committee...

What makes this crap doubly disgraceful is that he actually knows better...

[Burning Petard]

Little 'ol Delaware in one of the States that has all ready joined with other states in federal suit (yes, I think it is in the 9th circuit, just a POTUS requested) against this phone 'emergency'.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

Trump on brink of GOP rebellion over emergency declaration

President Trump is facing a potential revolt among Senate Republicans over his decision to declare a national emergency to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) public announcement over the weekend that he will oppose Trump’s declaration ensures a resolution blocking it will be approved by the Senate after already passing the House — unless Senate Republicans can find some kind of last-minute way out of the showdown.

Republicans have been hunting for a way out of a fight over the declaration that has badly fractured the caucus, but Paul’s decision underscores the difficulty leadership faces in finding a successful exit strategy.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who is expected to oppose a resolution of disapproval, floated that Trump could be rethinking his decision given the likelihood that he’ll have to use his first veto.

“I do think he is probably rethinking the situation,” Kennedy told CNN’s "State of the Union." “I don't think the president has the votes on a straight-up vote to sustain his position. Now, if the Senate says, 'Mr. President, you don't have the authority,' as the House did, I expect the president to veto it, and we will be right back to where we are now.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) took the unusual step last week of publicly urging Trump to back down. He called on the president to reverse the emergency declaration and instead use transfer authorities that are already granted to him to find money for the wall.

“There is time for the president’s lawyers to take another look and determine whether we can both build the 234 miles of border wall that the president has requested and avoid this dangerous precedent,” Alexander, who is retiring at the end of the current Congress, said in a closely watched floor speech.

Alexander said Trump should find a way to let Republicans “who want to support him on border security be able to do that” while also “keeping our oath to the Constitution.”[Confronting GOP law makers with the choice between supporting him and keeping their oath to the constitution is a regular feature of Trump's Putzidency, and sadly most of them most of the time have been choosing the former rather than the latter...]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to give a resolution blocking Trump’s emergency declaration a vote before lawmakers leave for a recess on March 15. GOP aides say the vote is more likely to happen next week, giving Republicans just under two weeks of breathing room to negotiate.

Republicans in both chambers have criticized the Trump decision as an assault on Congress’s authority that could lead a Democratic president to circumvent lawmakers to take action on climate change or gun control.

Paul, who joins three other Senate Republicans so far in publicly backing the resolution of disapproval, said he couldn't support giving a president "extra-constitutional powers."

“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress. We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing,” he said, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

In addition to Paul, GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) have said they will join all 47 members of the Democratic Caucus in supporting a resolution blocking the emergency declaration.

Roughly a dozen GOP senators are also on the fence about the resolution, leaving open the possibility that supporters could pick up additional Republican votes.

More:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/432 ... eclaration