Resolution to block national emergency

US DEMOCRATS have introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to block the national emergency declaration issued by President Donald Trump to fund his proposed wall along the border with Mexico.

The move sets up a fight that could result in Mr Trump’s first presidential veto.

It also starts the clock on a constitutional clash between Mr Trump and the Democrats and sets up a vote by the full house as soon as next week.

The Democrat-controlled house is sure to pass the measure, and the Republican-run US senate may also adopt it despite Mr Trump’s opposition.

Any veto by Mr Trump would likely be sustained, but the upcoming battle will test Republican support for his move, which even some of his allies view as a stretch – and will be taken as a slap at members of congress’s control over the federal purse.

A staff aide introduced the measure during a short pro forma session of the US house in which representative Don Beyer presided over an almost empty chamber.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised that her chamber will “move swiftly” to pass the measure, predicting in a letter to colleagues that “the resolution will be referred to the senate and then sent to the president’s desk”.

Should the house and the senate initially approve the measure, US congress seems unlikely to muster the two thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a certain Trump veto.

The measure to block Mr Trump’s edict will be closely watched in the senate, where Republican moderates such as Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander have signalled they would back it.

Majority leader Mitch McConnell has at best been a reluctant supporter of Mr Trump on the topic.

The battle centres on an emer- gency declaration Mr Trump has issued to access billions of dollars beyond what congress has authorised to start erecting border barriers.

Building the wall was the most visible trademark of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.

Congress last week approved a vast spending bill providing nearly $1.4bn (£1bn) to build 55 miles of border barriers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown.

That measure represented a rejection of Mr Trump’s demand for $5.7bn (£4.3bn) to construct along more than 200 miles.

The resolution will be referred to the senate and then sent to the president.

House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi.