Trump increases pressure on GOP over emergency border vote

President Trump ramped up pressure on Senate Republicans ahead of next week’s vote on a resolution to block his national emergency declaration. 

“Senate Republicans are not voting on constitutionality or precedent, they are voting on desperately needed Border Security & the Wall. Our Country is being invaded with Drugs, Human Traffickers, & Criminals of all shapes and sizes. That’s what this vote is all about. STAY UNITED!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

Senate Republicans are not voting on constitutionality or precedent, they are voting on desperately needed Border Security & the Wall. Our Country is being invaded with Drugs, Human Traffickers, & Criminals of all shapes and sizes. That’s what this vote is all about. STAY UNITED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2019

Some Republican senators who have indicated they will vote for the resolution, including Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), have expressed constitutional concerns that Trump’s declaration to allocate billions of federal dollars for his border wall infringes on Congress’s duty to appropriate funds.

“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress. We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing,” Paul said, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

The Kentucky libertarian has suggested that at least 10 Republicans could join the four defectors and 47 senators in the Democratic caucus, well surpassing the 51 votes needed to pass the resolution.

Trump has vowed to veto the resolution should it pass, and it is unlikely that either the Senate or the House will have the Republican votes needed to override such a move. However, having to use his first veto to shut down a bipartisan rebuke over one of his signature campaign promises would still be an embarrassing moment for Trump.

The White House berated possible Republican defectors Wednesday morning, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushing the GOP to “do your job.”

“If you had done what you were elected to do on the front end then the president wouldn’t have to fix this problem on his own through a national emergency,” Sanders said on “Fox & Friends.” “The president has the absolute authority, in fact, he has a duty to call a national emergency to fix the crisis that we have going on at our border.”

The White House has pointed to rising apprehensions at the southern border as evidence that drastic measures were needed to buoy security efforts and prevent more illegal crossings. Trump declared the emergency last month, after a congressional spending bill failed to meet his funding demands for the wall, allotting roughly $8 billion for barriers along the Mexican border.