House Dems plan vote against Trump on border
House vote on resolution planned for Tuesday
A resolution opposing the president’s emergency declaration to get money for a wall along the U.S.Mexico border will be put up for a vote Tuesday.
WASHINGTON – The House plans to vote Tuesday on a resolution to try to block President Donald Trump’s declaration of an emergency along the southern border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday.
“The president of the United States is declaring a national emergency to honor an applause line in a rally,” Pelosi said on a conference call with reporters Friday morning.
“Not only is he disrespecting the legislative branch and the Constitution of the United States, he is dishonoring the office in which he serves,” said the California Democrat, who spoke from the border city of Laredo, Texas.
Trump announced the declaration last week as a means of freeing up billions of dollars to pay for his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border after Congress failed to give him the money he demanded.
Democrats have called the declaration an overreach of Trump’s power and have vowed to fight it. Their resolution, if it passed both chambers of Congress, would terminate the emergency declaration. But even if Congress approves it, the president could veto it.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump vowed to veto the resolution “100 percent.”
“And I don’t think it survives a veto,” the president predicted.
Pelosi said the resolution would come up in the House Rules Committee Monday night and then likely be brought to the floor on Tuesday.
House Democrats introduced the resolution Friday. As of Friday morning it had more than 225 co-sponsors, according to lead sponsor Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas. The bill had one GOP co-sponsor, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.
The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House, but its future is uncertain in the Republican-held Senate. However, unlike most legislation, the resolution is rooted in a provision from the National Emergencies Act that would require it to be voted upon within 18 calendar days after it is introduced and then be sent to the Senate.
Many Republicans have said they were uncomfortable with the president declaring a national emergency to get funding for a wall along the border, but it’s unclear whether they would vote for such an effort.
A copy of the one-page resolution was sent by Pelosi late Wednesday to all members of the House, where she urged them to join in backing the move.
“All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution,” Pelosi wrote in her letter. “The President’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated. We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the President’s assault.”