US senate passes border bill as Trump prepares to declare national emergency

The US Senate has passed a major spending bill that would effectively avoid another federal government shutdown, sending the legislation to the president’s desk for a signature.

Now, the only question is whether Donald Trump intends to sign it.

The bipartisan measure is the product of weeks of negotiations after the longest government shutdown in history, in which Mr Trump demanded billions of dollars towards his campaign promise of building a wall sprawling across the entirety of the US-Mexico border.

At the time, he said he would be “proud” to shut the government down over his demands -- before later buckling to increased pressure from Republicans and federal employees across the country, 800,000 of whom went without pay during the 35-day partial government closure.

Mr Trump has appeared to begrudgingly accept the final bill, which reportedly does not include his funding demands for a border wall.

The deadline for the president to sign the legislation is on Friday.

He has signaled he would instead invoke a national emergency in order to bypass Congressional spending restrictions and avoid asking the permission of lawmakers to circumvent funding towards his border wall.

A national emergency over the border would likely face an exhaustive legal challenge, however, as its constitutionality remains unclear.

In a speech on the US Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the president’s national emergency threats, calling it a “tremendous mistake and a “lawless act.”

The New York Democrat also said Mr Trump invoking a national emergency over the nation’s southern border would be a “gross abuse of power by the president.”

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