President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to obtain the billions of dollars requested for his border wall in the Washington Rose Garden Feb. 15, and signed a deal that averted the impending partial government shutdown.

The announcement comes while Trump prepared to sign a bill that would prevent another government shutdown while providing $1.375  billion in funding for the border wall, according to USA Today. The bill was signed only hours before parts of the government were supposed to shut down on midnight Feb. 16, according to CNBC. The government was reopened for three weeks following the longest government shutdown in United States’ history, Jan. 25.

The national emergency was declared to repurpose funds from other parts of the government to build the border wall without congressional approval, according to CNBC.

White House aids said Trump expects $8 billion for the wall, most of which can only be accessed through means of declaring a national emergency. Trump “reportedly argued” that he has the authority to do this according to CNBC.

Trump acknowledged that this move would draw controversy and said that the wall’s fund could’ve been done better in a longer period of time, but wanted to do it much faster.

This controversial action has drawn controversy from Democrats including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who said Congress would defend constitutional authorities and called the declaration of a national emergency a violation in Congress’s power of the purse. Congresswoman Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez plans to propose a bill that would block the national emergency declaration, according to the New York Post.

Read about the effects of the government shutdown in February’s issue.