Dems introduce resolution to overturn Trump’s emergency to build wall
Democrats in the House introduced a resolution on Friday that would block President Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border, a step he took to free up as much as $8 billion in funding to build his proposed border wall.
The resolution sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) had 222 co-sponsors.
The measure is expected to pass the Democratic-held House but will need to win GOP support to get through the Senate.
{mosads}Several GOP senators have expressed opposition to Trump’s emergency declaration, warning it could set a precedent for a future president to declare an emergency to circumvent Congress on another issue, such as climate change or gun control.
As a result, it’s possible Democrats in the Senate could win the handful of votes needed to pass the measure.
Trump would likely then veto the resolution, and it is not expected that the House and Senate would have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto.
The resolution states that the national emergency declared by Trump is “hereby terminated.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) earlier this week urged Democrats to sign on to the resolution overturning the order.
“President Trump’s emergency declaration proclamation undermines the separation of powers and Congress’s power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive,” she wrote in a letter to members on Wednesday.
Last week, after failing to secure more than $1.4 billion from Congress for any sort of border barrier, Trump declared an emergency that would allow him to reprogram funds from the Department of Defense. The order is also facing multiple legal challenges.
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