National Emergencies Act#Procedure for new emergencies and rescinding emergency declarations

The first President to issue an emergency proclamation{{cite journal|title=Declaring and Terminating a State of National Emergency|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|volume=6|issue=4|pages=36–42|jstor = 20556861|last1 = Relyea|first1 = Harold C.|year=1976}}{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf|title=National Emergency Powers|access-date=January 11, 2019}} was Woodrow Wilson, who on February 5, 1917, issued the following:

{{bquote|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 ....{{cite web|url=http://presidency.proxied.lsit.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24408|title=Woodrow Wilson: Proclamation 1354 – Emergency in Water Transportation of the United States|website=presidency.proxied.lsit.ucsb.edu|access-date=11 January 2019}}}}

This proclamation was within the limits of the act that established the United States Shipping Board. The first president to declare a national emergency was President Abraham Lincoln, during the American Civil War. 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.H. Rep. No. 95-459, at 7 (1977) 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,Executive Order 6102 a 1950 emergency with respect to the Korean War,{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=13684 |title=Harry S. Truman: "Proclamation 2914 – Proclaiming the Existence of a National Emergency," December 16, 1950 |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California |location= Santa Barbara, California}} a 1970 emergency regarding a postal workers strike, and a 1971 emergency in response to inflation.{{cite web |title=Report No. 93-549 Emergency Powers Statutes: Provisions of Federal Law Now in Effect Delegating to the Executive Extraordinary Authority in Time of National Emergency, Report of the Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emrergency |date=November 19, 1973 |publisher=United States Senate U.S. Government Printing Office |page=2 |url=http://www.ncrepublic.org/images/lib/SenateReport93_549.pdf }} Many provisions of statutory law are contingent on a declaration of national emergency, as many as 500 by one count.{{cite report |title=Martial Law and National Emergency |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=2005}} 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.{{cite web |first=Harold C.|last=Relyea|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf |title=National Emergency Powers |publisher=Congressional Research Service |issue=98–505 |date=August 30, 2007 |access-date=January 7, 2019}} 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).{{cite book |last1=Casey |first1=Christopher A. |display-authors=et al. |title=The International Emergency Economic Powers Act: Origins, Evolution, and Use |date=March 20, 2019 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |location=Washington, DC |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R45618.pdf |access-date=29 March 2019}}

A prior Senate investigation had found 470 provisions of federal law that a President might invoke via a declaration of emergency.Senate Report 93-549, Emergency Powers Statutes 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 Two of the United States Constitution.{{cite book|first=Diana|last=Miller|title=Terrorism: Are We Ready?|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|location=Hauppage, New York|pages=130–31|date=2002|isbn=978-1590331521}}

The Act authorizes the President to activate emergency provisions of law via an emergency declaration on the condition 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, and the Supreme Court in INS v. Chadha (1983) held such provisions to be an unconstitutional legislative veto,{{cite web |url= http://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf |title= National Emergency Powers |publisher= Congressional Research Service|access-date=February 15, 2019|date = August 30, 2007}} it was replaced in 1985 with termination by an enacted joint resolution. A joint resolution passed by both chambers requires presidential signature, giving the president veto power over the termination (requiring a two-thirds majority in both houses in the case of a contested termination).{{cite web |first=Gregory|last=Korte|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/08/presidential-declaration-national-emergency-donald-trump-border-wall-congress-oversight/2784488002/ |title= How congressional Democrats could fight a Trump wall national emergency declaration|newspaper=USA Today|publisher=Gannett Company|location=Mclean, Virginia|access-date=February 15, 2019|date =February 14, 2019 }} 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.

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.

Congress has delegated at least 150 distinct statutory emergency powers to the President, each available upon the declaration of an emergency. Only 13 of these require a declaration from Congress; the remaining 137 are assumed by an executive declaration with no further Congressional input.

Congressionally-authorized emergency presidential powers are sweeping and dramatic, and range from suspending all laws regulating chemical and biological weapons, including the ban on human testing ({{USC|50|1515}}, passed 1969); to suspending any Clean Air Act implementation plan or excess emissions penalty upon petition of a state governor ({{USC|42|7410 (f)}}, passed 1977); to authorizing military construction projects ({{USC|10|2808 (a)}}, passed 1982) using any existing defense appropriations for such military constructions ($10.4 billion in FY2018{{cite report |title=FY2018 Military Construction Authorizations and Appropriations |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=June 6, 2018 |id=R45217 |url=https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R45217.html}}); to drafting any retired Coast Guard officers ({{USC|14|331}}, passed 1963) or enlisted members ({{USC|14|359}}, passed 1949) into active duty regardless of ineligibility for Selective Service.

{{main|List of national emergencies in the United States}}

As of April 2025, 90 national emergencies have been declared,{{Cite web |last=Moon |first=Emily |date=2019-01-08 |title=The United States' States of Emergencies |url=https://psmag.com/news/the-united-states-states-of-emergencies/ |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=Pacific Standard |language=en-US}} with 49 of them being renewed annually.{{Cite web |title=Declared National Emergencies Under the National Emergencies Act {{!}} Brennan Center for Justice |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/declared-national-emergencies-under-national-emergencies-act |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=www.brennancenter.org |language=en}} These include the eight that were declared prior to the passage of the 1976 Act.{{cite web|first=Kendall|last=Heath|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/list-31-national-emergencies-effect-years/story?id=60294693|title=Here's a list of the 31 national emergencies that have been in effect for years|website=ABC News|date=January 10, 2019|access-date=January 11, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Declared National Emergencies Under the National Emergencies Act, 1978-2018 |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/DeclaredNationalEmergenciesUndertheNationalEmergenciesAct_2.14.19.pdf |publisher=Brennan Center for Justice |access-date=February 15, 2019}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/Executive%20Order%2012170.pdf|title=Executive Order No. 12170}}

Since passage of the National Emergencies Act in 1976, every U.S. President has declared multiple national emergencies: Carter (2); Reagan (6); H.W. Bush (4); Clinton (17); W. Bush (12); Obama (13); Trump (11); Biden (9); Trump (8 as of {{As of|2025|04|bare=yes}}).{{Cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/presidents-national-emergencies/|title=FACT CHECK: Have All U.S. Presidents Since 1976 Declared National Emergencies?|website=Snopes.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-18}}

Beyond the National Emergencies Act, Congress has established four other emergency power frameworks:

• {{USC|42|247d}} – Public Health Service Act (1944), as amended.
• {{USC|42|5121}} et seq. – Stafford Act (1988), replacing the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended in 2000 and 2006.
• {{USC|22|2318(a)(1)}} – Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, including by the Arms Export Control Act (1962)
• Draft amendments to the Defense Production Act, by means of enactment of individual Titles within the draft Defense Resources Act. Titles include censorship and economic stabilization (price controls). Congress and the president have leave to approve all or parts of the text of either Act and to contract or expand proposed authorities therein. In some respects, Titles within the Defense Resources Act mirror the Public Health Service Act.

• List of national emergencies in the United States
• Continuity of Government Plan
• National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
• Rex 84
• United States national emergency with respect to Iran
• International Emergency Economic Powers Act
• Presidential Emergency Action Documents

{{reflist}}

• [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psq.12588 Yu Ouyang and Michael A. Morgan. 2019. "The Contemporary Presidency How Presidents Utilize Their Emergency Powers." Presidential Studies Quarterly.]
• {{cite report|first=Harold C.|last=Relyea|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/RS21024.pdf|title=Martial Law and National Emergency|publisher=Congressional Research Service Report for Congress RS21024|date=January 7, 2005}}
• {{cite report|first=Harold C.|last=Relyea|title=National Emergency Powers|url=https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/6216.pdf|publisher=Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, order code 98-505 GOV|date=September 18, 2001}}
• {{cite report|first=Harold C.|last=Relyea|title=National Emergency Powers|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf|publisher=Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, order code 98-505 GOV|date=November 13, 2006}}
• "Toward Comprehensive Reform of America's Emergency Law Regime," including compendium of national emergency powers {{SSRN|2056822}}

• [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-10385/uslm/COMPS-10385.xml National Emergencies Act] as amended ([https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-10385/pdf/COMPS-10385.pdf PDF]/[https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/COMPS-10385/ details]) in the GPO [https://www.govinfo.gov/help/comps Statute Compilations collection]
• [https://www.govinfo.gov/link/statute/94/public/412?link-type=pdf&.pdf National Emergencies Act] as enacted ([https://www.govinfo.gov/link/statute/94/public/412?link-type=details details]) in the US Statutes at Large
• [https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/emergency-powers A Guide to Emergency Powers and Their Use]. Brennan Center for Justice
• [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/ The Alarming Scope of the President's Emergency Powers] The Atlantic. Jan/Feb 2019.

Category:1976 in American law

Category:94th United States Congress

Category:United States federal defense and national security legislation

Category:Emergency laws in the United States

Category:Civil detention in the United States

Category:Continuity of government in the United States