The U.S. Senate is set to deliver a rebuke to President Donald Trump over his national emergency declaration as more Republican senators side with proponents of the resolution to give Democrats the 51 votes they need to strike down the effort to build the southern border wall.
New York Times reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) confirmed earlier this week the libertarian-minded Rand Paul (R-KY) will join Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) to vote for the measure passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives late last month.
Trump’s emergency declaration seeks funding to construct his campaign promise of a U.S.-Mexico border wall “for virtual invasion purposes – drugs, traffickers, and gangs.”
On February 14, just hours before a partial government shutdown would ensue – following the 35-day shutdown that shuttered 25 percent of federal departments and agencies – the commander in chief signed a deal that would allot him less that one quarter of the $5.7 billion he requested to construct the wall. The 1,159-page bipartisan border security compromise included just $1.375 billion for physical barriers to begin 55 miles worth of construction in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sector.
Moreover, billions in funding was included 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.
Highly disappointed with the deal, President Trump is set on securing $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. He explained during his address in the Rose Garden at the White House after signing the deal that “critical actions” are needed to “confront a problem that we have right here at home.”
In the weeks since the announcement, the attorneys general of at least 16 states have filed a lawsuit against the declaration, criticizing it as a “fake emergency.”
In late February, House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-14) jumped to block Trump’s emergency declaration, calling it a “process [that] violates the Constitution.” Although President Trump called on GOP lawmakers not to side with Democrats on the matter, thirteen Republicans voted to pass the measure in the House.
While the resolution is now set to pass Congress’ upper chamber, Trump has reiterated that he will deliver his first-ever veto on the matter.
Neither the House nor the Senate is likely to mobilize a two-thirds majority needed to overturn a veto. The plaintiffs in multiple lawsuits, however, could seize upon a congressional rejection as support for their argument that Trump is subverting the Constitution, which grants Congress clear control over federal spending.
Supporters of the declaration say that the president is within his rights to use powers that Congress gave him through the National Emergencies Act. Previous presidents have invoked their emergency powers nearly five dozen times since Congress enacted the act in 1976, but one has never been used to outmaneuver Congress after it rejected funding for a particular policy or project.
Therefore, as the first-ever veto from President Trump is likely to strike down the border wall rebuke, it could set up the first-ever Supreme Court case directly dealing with the president overstepping Congress’ “power of the purse” since the National Emergencies Act formalized the emergency powers of the commander in chief.
