Trump has 3 border wall trump cards

One way or another, President Trump will be rewarding his supporters with billions of dollars' worth of border wall construction.

He has, in essence, given opponents of acceding to his program to protect the border the easy way or the hard way.

The easy way would be for Chuck Schumer to allow eight of his senators to vote in favor of the new C.R. and have it pass.

It is unlikely that Amy Schumer's cousin would agree, but even if he stands fast, he will not like the first trump card that Trump mentioned this morning in a tweet:

This puts a hot potato in Mitch McConnell's lap. He probably does not relish the prospect of losing the filibuster as a weapon to use against a future Democrat majority in the Senate.

If McConnell demurs, this leaves a second trump card: use of the budget reconciliation process that allows a simple Senate majority to enact legislation:

Created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, reconciliation allows for expedited consideration of certain tax, spending, and debt limit legislation. In the Senate, reconciliation bills aren't subject to filibuster and the scope of amendments is limited, giving this process real advantages for enacting controversial budget and tax measures.

If Congress fails to do this, he has a third trump card. Jason Chaffetz explains:

Washington's dirty little secret is that unauthorized spending is not even uncommon anymore.
The Democrats may feign exasperation with the president potentially spending "unauthorized" money on the wall, but they have enthusiastically participated in the budgetary games that will make it possible. During the Obama administration, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated $310 billion was spent on unauthorized appropriations in FY 2016 – the last fiscal year of his presidency.

The federal budget is enormous – more than $4 trillion each year, of which roughly $1 trillion is discretionary. It is Congress's job to authorize programs and appropriate funds for them from this $1 trillion.

However, the budget categories under which programs are authorized and funds are appropriated are very broad, and since Congress doesn't pass specific language about every last dollar's use, discretionary funds are inevitably used for things that Congress never specifically funds.
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