It’s looking more and more like the United States will avert another government shutdown.   But the controversy over President Donald Trump’s border wall is far from over.

Late Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that keeps the federal government open; now the measure goes to the House Thursday night.  

The bill authorizes nearly $1.4 billion for new fencing and barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump is expected to sign the bill, but he’s also expected to declare a national emergency in order to build more of his border wall.

Trump has demanded $5.7 billion to build the wall and by declaring a national emergency, he wants to redirect federal funds to pay for it.  But the president’s plan is getting pushback from members in both parties.

Critics say Trump is doing an end-around Congress, which is the branch of government that decides how the government spends money, not the president.

Critics also say the situation at the border does not constitute a national security crisis, since border crossings from Mexico have actually been going down in recent years.

Republicans also worry that the move could embolden future Democratic presidents to declare emergencies on other issues, like climate change.

U.S. Senator Mike Rounds voted in favor of Thursday’s spending bill.  He says Trump would be acting within his legal authority to declare an emergency.

“The thing that we have been talking about is that if he tries to expand the use of emergency powers beyond what’s been done in the past, then other presidents may do that as well.  That’s the part that Congress will probably take a look at,” Rounds said.

Senator John Thune issued a statement saying quote “The compromise isn’t perfect, but that’s the nature of a compromise.” 

We also reached out to congressman Dusty Johnson. He sent us a statement saying in part quote: “It’s far from perfect and is only a down payment on the work that still needs to be done. No one gets everything they want in any deal, but we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”