The National Emergencies Act (NEA) (Pub.L. 94–412, 90 Stat. 1255, enacted September 14, 1976, codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1601–1651) is a United States federal law passed to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President.

The Act empowers the President to activate special powers during a crisis but imposes certain procedural formalities when invoking such powers. The perceived need for the law arose from the scope and number of laws granting special powers to the executive in times of national emergency. Congress can undo a state of emergency declaration with either a joint resolution and the President's signature, or with a veto-proof majority vote.[1]

The legislation was signed by President Gerald Ford on September 14, 1976.[2] As of January 2019, the United States is under 31 continuing declared states of national emergency.[1][3]

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, enacted in 1977, falls under the National Emergencies Act, which means that an emergency declared under that Act must be renewed annually to remain in effect.

Contents
1 Background
2 Provisions
2.1 Termination of presidential authority
2.2 Procedure for new emergencies and rescinding emergency declarations
2.3 Exceptions
3 Emergency powers
4 Invocations
5 Other emergency frameworks
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
Background
The first President to issue an emergency proclamation[4][5] was Woodrow Wilson, who on February 5, 1917, issued the following:

“ I have found that there exists a national emergency arising from the insufficiency of maritime tonnage to carry the products of the farms, forests, mines and manufacturing industries of the United States, to their consumers abroad and within the United States[6] �
This proclamation was within the limits of the act that established the United States Shipping Board.

Starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, presidents asserted the power to declare emergencies without limiting their scope or duration, without citing the relevant statutes, and without congressional oversight.[7] The Supreme Court in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer limited what a president could do in such an emergency, but did not limit the emergency declaration power itself. A 1973 Senate investigation found (in Senate Report 93-549) that four declared emergencies remained in effect: the 1933 banking crisis with respect to the hoarding of gold,[8] a 1950 emergency with respect to the Korean War,[9] a 1970 emergency regarding a postal workers strike, and a 1971 emergency in response to inflation.[10] Many provisions of statutory law are contingent on a declaration of national emergency, as many as 500 by one count.[11] It was due in part to concern that a declaration of "emergency" for one purpose should not invoke every possible executive emergency power, that Congress in 1976 passed the National Emergencies Act.

Presidents have continued to use their emergency authority subject to the provisions of the act, with 42 national emergencies declared between 1976 and 2007.[12] Most of these were for the purpose of restricting trade with certain foreign entities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701–1707).

Provisions
Termination of presidential authority
A prior Senate investigation had found 470 provisions of federal law that a President might invoke via a declaration of emergency.[13] The Act repealed several of these provisions and stated that prior emergency declarations would no longer give force to those provisions that remained. Congress did not attempt to revoke any outstanding emergency declarations per se, as these remained the President's prerogative under Article II of the Constitution.[14]

Procedure for new emergencies and rescinding emergency declarations
The Act authorized the President to activate emergency provisions of law via an emergency declaration on the conditions that the President specifies the provisions so activated and notifies Congress. An activation would expire if the President expressly terminated the emergency, or did not renew the emergency annually, or if each house of Congress passed a resolution terminating the emergency. After presidents objected to this "Congressional termination" provision on separation of powers grounds, it was replaced in 1985 with termination by an enacted joint resolution. This means that for Congress to rescind a declared emergency, not only must they pass the joint resolution, but the President must sign the legislation. The Act also requires the President and executive agencies to maintain records of all orders and regulations that proceed from use of emergency authority, and to regularly report the cost incurred to Congress.

Exceptions
Certain emergency authorities were exempted from the act at the time of its passage:

10 USC 2304(a)(1) – allowing exemption of national defense contracts from competitive bidding
10 USC 3313, 6386(c) and 8313 – regulating the promotion, retirement and separation of military officers
12 USC 95(a) – regulating transactions in foreign gold and silver
40 USC 278(b) – regulating federal property purchases and contracts
41 USC 15 and 203 – limiting the assignment of claims against the federal government
50 USC 1431–1435 – enabling the President to make national defense contracts outside of otherwise applicable rules
The list of exceptions has from time to time been revised. For example, Public Law 95-223 (1977) repealed the emergency clause of 12 USC 95(a) and arranged for its authority to expire according to the normal provisions of the NEA.

Emergency powers
Congress has delegated at least 136 distinct statutory emergency powers to the President upon the declaration of an emergency. Only 13 require a declaration from Congress; the remainder are invoked by an executive declaration with no Congressional input.[15]

Emergency presidential powers are dramatic, and range from suspending all laws regulating chemical and biological weapons, including the ban on human testing (50 U.S.C. § 1515, passed 1969); to suspending any Clean Air Act implementation plan or excess emissions penalty upon petition of a state governor (42 U.S.C. (f) § 7410 (f), passed 1977); to authorizing and constructing military construction projects (10 U.S.C. (a) § 2808 (a), passed 1982) using any existing defense appropriations for such military constructions ($10.4 billion in FY2018[16]); to drafting any retired Coast Guard officers (14 U.S.C. § 331, passed 1963) or enlisted members (14 U.S.C. § 359, passed 1949) into active duty.

Invocations
As of January 2019, 58 national emergencies had been declared since the Act was enacted in 1976, with 31 of them being renewed annually.[1][3] The longest continuing national emergency dates back to November 1979 by the Carter administration blocking Iranian government property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.[17]

In January 2019, President Donald Trump indicated he may use emergency powers to build the Mexico–United States barrier if Congress did not appropriate $5.7 billion for the purpose.[18] In February 2019, Trump indicated that he would declare a national emergency in addition to signing the $1.4 billion provided in the government funding bill.[19]

Other emergency frameworks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emergencies_Act

Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.