Trump’s wall bid has new threat

DEMOCRATS ignored a veto threat and rammed legislation through the House on Tuesday that would stymie President Donald Trump’s bid for billions of extra dollars for his border wall, escalating a clash over whether he was abusing his powers to advance his paramount campaign pledge. The House’s 245-182 vote to block Mr Trump’s national emergency declaration fell well below the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override his promised veto.

The vote also throws the political hot potato to the Republican-run Senate, where there were already enough GOP defections to edge it to the cusp of passage.

Vice President Mike Pence used a lunch with Republican senators at the Capitol to try keeping them aboard, citing a dangerous crisis at the border, but there were no signs he’d succeeded.

The showdown was forcing Republicans to cast uncomfortable votes pitting their support for a president wildly popular with GOP voters against fears that his expansive use of emergency powers would invite future Democratic presidents to do likewise for their own pet policies.

House Republicans who joined all voting Democrats to support the Democratic resolution included moderates from competitive districts like Fred Upton of Michigan and libertarian-leaning conservatives like Thomas Massie from Kentucky. The White House wrote to politicians formally threatening to veto the legislation. Republicans said Democrats were driven by politics and a desire to oppose Mr Trump at every turn, and said Mr Trump had clear authority to declare an emergency to protect the country.

Mr Trump has asserted that barriers would stop drugs from Mexico from entering the US, and Republican senator Pete

IS YOUR OATH OF OFFICE TO DONALD TRUMP, OR IS YOUR OATH OF OFFICE TO THE CONSTITUTION? HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

Olson of Texas said. “We are at war on the Southern border with the drug cartels.”

In fact, government figures show that 90 per cent of drugs intercepted from Mexico are caught at ports of entry, not remote areas where barriers would be constructed.

Democrats said Republicans repeatedly accused former President Barack Obama of flouting the Constitution, which gives Congress control over spending, but are ignoring Mr Trump’s effort to do the same. “Is your oath of office to Donald Trump, or is your oath of office to the Constitution?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Republicans.