Isakson, Perdue vote against Democrats’ resolution

WASHINGTON — Both of Georgia’s U.S. senators voted to uphold President Donald Trump’s border emergency Thursday, standing with the White House even as a dozen of their GOP colleagues bucked the party on constitutional grounds.

What happened

Republicans Johnny Isakson and David Perdue voted against Democrats’ resolution of disapproval, which passed the Senate 59 to 41. The president has promised to veto the measure, which is a response to his Feb. 15 move to invoke emergency powers to secure money for a southwest border wall.

Isaskson did not publicly announce his plans to reject the resolution until an hour before the vote. He had wrestled with the decision for weeks — the fight pitted his party loyalty against his wariness of executive overreach — but Isakson said he ultimately saw it as a question of border security, not the separation of powers.

“The only vote you could take, in my judgment, would be one in favor of security,” he said.

Perdue, a Trump ally who is up for re-election in 2020, declared his intent to vote against the resolution after a trip to the Texas border several weeks ago.

“There is a five-alarm crisis at the southern border. I’ve seen it firsthand,” Perdue said. “This is not just about illegal immigration or building the wall. It’s about the explosion in illegal drug trafficking.”

Why it matters

The White House had dialed up the pressure on Republican senators to stay unified in recent days. The president even called Isakson on Thursday morning to make his case, but by then the three-term Republican’s mind had been made up.

Isakson’s and Perdue’s pledges to support the president came even without public assurance from the White House that it would rule out siphoning money from Georgia’s military construction projects to pay for the wall.

One Democratic analysis estimated that $234 million in Georgia military construction funding is eligible to be tapped, including projects at Fort Benning and Fort Gordon.

What it means

Both Isakson and Perdue have been major boosters of the state’s military bases. At the same time, they have leaned heavily on the Trump administration as of late to advance two of their top issues: Savannah port funding and a disaster relief bill for Hurricane Michael victims.

An Isakson spokeswoman said he plans to sign on as a co-sponsor of a bill being offered by Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah that would require congressional approval for future national emergencies.

Trump rejected Lee’s bill on Wednesday but suggested he was open to it a day later.

Georgia’s U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson (left) and David Perdue, voted against the measure to overturn declaration.