The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has failed in their effort override President Donald Trump’s veto of a resolution that sought to reject the commander in chief’s national emergency declaration to secure funding to construct hundreds of miles of wall at the southern border. President Trump handed down his first-ever veto on the measure just 10 days ago after it was passed in the U.S. Senate.
The lower chamber voted 248-181 in favor of overriding Trump’s veto, 38 votes short of the 286 needed for Democrats and their handful of Republican allies to prevail, AP reports.
“The Democrat-sponsored resolution would terminate vital border security operations by revoking the national emergency issued last month,” the president said in his remarks at the White House following his veto in mid-March. “It is definitely a national emergency. Rarely have we had such a national emergency.”
Trump said he vetoed the “reckless resolution” because Congress’ action was a “vote to deny the crisis on the southern border” and was a “vote against reality.”
Since then, Democrats have been working to secure the two-thirds majority necessary to override the veto.
Nevertheless, Tuesday’s vote hands Trump a victory as his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border will remain in effect.
When Trump received a bipartisan border deal including just $1.375 billion for physical barriers at the southern border to avert another government shutdown, he was highly disappointed with four times less in funding than he requested before the kickoff of the longest ever partial federal closure, which spanned the end of 2018 into early 2019.
Billions in funding was also included in the deal for other border security programs like inspection equipment for ports of entry, humanitarian aid for detained migrants, funds to buy aircraft and materiel support, and provisions to hire 600 more customs officers and additional immigration judges. However, the president still seeks to complete one of his top campaign promises by securing the southern border.
He explained during an address in the Rose Garden at the White House weeks ago that “critical actions” are needed to “confront a problem that we have right here at home.”
The declaration will allow the president to shift $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund for law enforcement priorities, approximately $2.5 billion from the Defense Department’s anti-drug efforts, and $3.6 billion in military construction funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall.