House Democrats introduced a resolution on Friday to block President Trump’s Feb. 15 emergency declaration on the southern border, according to The Hill. Trump took the step to free up as much as $8 billion in funding for his long-promised southern border wall.
The resolution sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) had 222 cosponsors.
The measure is expected to pass the Democratic-held House, but will need to win GOP support to get through the Senate. –The Hill
Trump’s emergency declaration has had pushback from several GOP senators, meanwhile – who have warned that it could set a precedent for a future president to declare national emergencies to circumvent Congress down the road on issues such as gun control or climate change.
Given the GOP support, it’s possible that Democrats in the Senate would have the required number of votes needed to pass the measure – which President Trump would promptly veto, setting up a battle in which the House and Senate would each need an unlikely two-thirds majority to override.
Earlier this week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urged Democrats to support the resolution overturning Trump’s order.
“President Trump’s emergency declaration proclamation undermines the separation of powers and Congress’s power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive,” said Pelosi in a Wednesday letter.
President Trump declared the national emergency last week after failing to secure the $5.7 billion he had originally requested amid tense negotiations which resulted in a partial government shutdown last month. The order faces multiple legal challenges, including a lawsuit from a coalition of 16 states spearheaded by California.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2IvPMqM Tyler Durden