“I’m going to be signing a national emergency and it’s been signed many times before,” he said. “It’s been signed by other presidents. From 1977 or so, it gave the presidents the power. They attracted no controversy because Congress has wanted the executive branch to operate that way. Congress has also enacted a statute that gave presidents, in a declared emergency “that requires use of the armed forces,” the power to redirect military construction funds to build projects related to that use.

Source: New York Times February 16, 2019 00:22 UTC