Did Trump Just Hint at Building the Border Wall Using the Military?

[the_doc]

Unless I'm very wrong, the president can impound or divert only funds related to those portions of the bill that have to do with or fall under the direct purview of
the executive branch; he can't impound or divert funds falling under the direct purview of Congress (reference Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution).
And in light of the point that Congress has already transferred a few too many of its former constitutional responsibilities to the executive branch, one would
and should be very cautious in wishing to assign even further power to the executive branch.

Bear in mind: omnibus bills are really single bills that are combined when Congress can't (or won't) produce and pass individual appropriations bills
needed to operate the government. Had the single bills that made up the current omnibus been passed on Capitol Hill as individual bills, the president could sign
or veto each one on its own. As a single omnibus, the president can sign or veto the entire package but not strike away portions of it. The usual reasons for
Congress ending up putting the single bills into an omnibus are many; they generally include anything from partisan squabbling to disputes even between
members of one or another party, or even getting themselves occupied enough with other legislation that it becomes oops, we gotta get the appropriations to
run the show done! The astonishing lack of a) transparency in composing the current omnibus and b) explicit interest from Donaldus Minimus in working
directly with Capitol Hill to negotiate the contents and dollars (the Artist of the Deal asleep at the switch?) continues to amaze. (We have to pass the ominbus
so we can find out what's in it!)

Good overall analysis, thanks.  And I do think that the bill represents a spectacular deal-making failure on the part of DJT;  on the other hand, I suspect that any points of his negotiations with folks on the Hill was met with really bad faith on the Hill.   
 

[EasyAce]

Raj Shah hilariously said today the bill was dropped on Trump at the 11th hour.  It was a compilation of many previous bills he'd already signed, plus negotiated items his legislative staff had been part of for the last six months.  What a whopper - with everything!

I hope an onion got stuck in his throat.

[EasyAce]

Good overall analysis, thanks.  And I do think that the bill represents a spectacular deal-making failure on the part of DJT;  on the other hand, I suspect that any points of his negotiations with folks on the Hill was met with really bad faith on the Hill.

So we have two branches of government acting in bad faith.

Business as usual, alas.

[the_doc]

So we have two branches of government acting in bad faith.

Business as usual, alas.

Don't forget the District Courts and some of the Circuit Courts. 

(Aren't more than thirty percent of federal District judges Obama appointees, as well as twenty-plus percent of Appellate judges?  [Mark Levin has bemoaned the stats, but I don't remember the numbers he quoted.  It seems like it might have been forty percent and thirty percent, respectively.])