HE’S DON VETO
GOP SENATORS JOIN DEMS TO KO WALL ‘EMERGENCY’ — BUT PREZ VOWS FIGHT
A dozen Republican senators broke ranks and voted with Democrats Thursday to block President Trump’s border wall-obsessed national emergency declaration, marking a major embarrassment for Trump and paving way for the first veto of his presidency.
In a 59-41 vote, the Senate passed a resolution rescinding the emergency order Trump issued on Feb. 15 in a constitutionally questionable attempt to unlock taxpayer funding for the behemoth border barrier he used to promise Mexico would bankroll.
The resolution — which bars Trump from stripping about $8 billion from Pentagon and Treasury reserve budgets and use it for a wall — was approved by the House last week and now heads to Trump’s desk.
The President made his intentions clear in a tweet following the humiliating Senate defeat.
“I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country,” he posted. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!”
All Democrats voted to overturn Trump’s emergency.
Among the 12 Republicans who rebuffed Trump was Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who argued the President’s declaration sets a dangerous precedent.
“Future Presidents could actually use this authority, the emergency authority, to tear down the very wall we are now constructing,” Portman said from the floor. “And some Democrats running for President have said that’s what they intend to do.”
Both the House and the Senate would need to rally two-thirds of their members to override a presidential veto — something neither chamber is expected to be able to do.
But political operatives noted that the perception of Trump losing the support of 12 Republicans on one of his key campaign promises isn’t a good look and could be an ominous sign for the future.
“It’s not good when your own party bucks you and joins the Democrats to
rebuke the President on a signature issue,” said Ryan Williams, a longtime GOP strategist and former adviser to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
“Usually a President wouldn’t move forward with something when he knows there’s so much pushback from his own party. It shows that members are willing to defect and, going forward, not every Republican is going to walk in lockstep with the President.”
Democrats say Trump’s declaration is unconstitutional and argue he has made up an emergency in a dubious effort to fulfill a campaign promise.
“The President said he didn’t need to do this and yet he’s declaring an emergency,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote, quoting the statement Trump made while declaring emergency from the White House Rose Garden last month.
“It’s a direct contradiction of his own words,” Schumer continued. “Everyone knows the truth here, Democrats and Republicans both know the sad truth: the President did not declare an emergency because there is one, he declared an emergency because he lost in Congress and wants to get around it.”
Congress has consistently refused to fund Trump’s wall, with Democrats arguing the project is unnecessarily expensive and even ineffective. The ensuing spending standoff resulted in a record 35-day government shutdown earlier this year.
As part of government funding legislation Trump signed in January, lawmakers gave him $1.3 billion for new border fencing and other measures, including the hiring of more security personnel.
Nonetheless, Trump has pushed ahead with his emergency declaration, ignoring criticism from members of both parties that he is violating Congress’s power of the purse.
In addition to bipartisan discontent in Congress, Trump’s emergency order is being challenged in several federal courts.
Thursday’s Senate setback marks Trump’s second legislative loss in as many days.
The Senate passed another resolution Wednesday to end U.S. support for Saudia Arabia in the the civil war in Yemen. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in that vote.
Trump, who enjoyed two years with the GOP in charge of both chambers of Congress, has promised to veto the Yemen resolution as well once it’s passed by the House.