PRECEDENT: President, tread lightly

President Trump has threatened to veto legislation that blocks his authority to declare his wall an $8.6 billion emergency. The president is creating a very dangerous precedent.

A future president could declare gun control as an emergency and erode the Second Amendment of our Constitution. Twelve Republican senators had the spine to vote against Trump. Will Senators Crapo and Risch vote for an override or with Trump?

On numerous occasions, the president said that Mexico would pay for the wall; that proved to be political grandstanding. If the wall remains in the budget, Trump and Congress will pass the cost on to our kids and grandkids in the form of national debt. The interest alone on our present debt is approximately $640 billion annually.

For more than 30 years, I have listened to Republicans promoting a balanced budget amendment, but that hype has led to tax cuts for the very wealthy and more than $2 trillion added to our budget deficit in just two years. If we continue this fiscal insanity there will be no middle class — just rich and poor.

We need three active branches of government, not two and a half. Congress needs to do its job and quit marching lock step with the president. The economy was good in 2016; so, why did Congress allow the debt to balloon to $23 trillion? We certainly should not be leveraging the future of the nation when the economy is good.

LEONARD BRANT

Post Falls