Senate rejects Trump’s emergency ruling
President promises veto and to update act to rein in Oval Office powers
WASHINGTON— The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday to overturn President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.Mexico border, with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats to deliver a bipartisan rebuke to the president.
The disapproval resolution passed the House last month, so the 59-41 Senate vote will send the measure to the Trump’s desk. Trump has promised to use the first veto of his presidency to strike it down, and Congress does not have the votes to override the veto. “VETO!” Trump tweeted moments after the vote.
Still, the Senate vote stood as a rare instance of Republicans breaking with Trump in significant numbers on an issue central to his presidency: the construction of a wall along the southern border.
For weeks, Trump had sought to frame the debate in terms of immigration, arguing that Republican senators who supported border security should back him up on the emergency declaration. But for many GOP lawmakers, it was about a bigger issue: the Constitution itself, which grants Congress, not the president, control over government spending.
By declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress to get money for his wall, Trump was violating the separation of powers and setting a potentially dangerous precedent, these senators argued.
“It’s imperative for the president to honour Congress’ constitutional role,” Republican Sen. Rob Portman said Thursday on the Senate floor as he announced his vote in favour of the disapproval resolution. “A national emergency declaration is a tool to be used cautiously and sparingly.” Republicans who voted against the disapproval resolution said the president was acting within his authority under the National Emergencies Act, and taking necessary steps to address a humanitarian and drug crisis at the border that Democrats had ignored.
“There is a crisis at the border and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have prevented a solution,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, naming the House speaker and Senate minority leader. “It should never have come to this, but in the absence of congressional action, the president did what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer refused to do.”
Thursday’s vote followed numerous failed efforts at compromise by vacillating GOP senators, including a dramatic incident Wednesday evening where a trio of GOP senators — Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse — showed up nearly unannounced at the White House, interrupting Trump at dinner in a last-ditch effort to craft a compromise.
Their efforts failed, and Graham, Cruz and Sasse all ended up voting against the disapproval resolution.
Ahead of the vote, Trump took to Twitter to goad his critics and insist that defectors would be siding with Pelosi.
“A vote for today’s resolution by Republican Senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, Crime, and the Open Border Democrats!” Trump wrote.
The president said he would support GOP efforts to update the National Emergencies Act at a later date — something that’s been under discussion as a way to rein in presidential powers going forward — “but today’s issue is BORDER SECURITY and Crime!!! Don’t vote with Pelosi!”