House Democrats passed a resolution Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to build the border wall — and they got some help from the opposition.
13 Republicans joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in voting to overturn Trump’s declaration. The resolution now heads to the Senate, where some moderate Republicans have already expressed squeamishness about supporting the president.
13 Republicans vote against wall
Democrats introduced the resolution Friday to block Trump’s national emergency, which he declared earlier this month to supplement the little more than $1 billion given him by Congress to build the wall with money from elsewhere in the federal budget. It picked up one Republican co-sponsor when it was introduced, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who called the border crisis a “non-emergency.”
Pelosi had spent the last week reaching out to Republicans for their support in rejecting Trump’s national emergency, which she has described as an affront to the Constitution, and on Monday was pushing to build momentum for the “patriotic” resolution before a Tuesday vote.
As expected, the resolution passed swiftly Tuesday, 245-182, with the support of all the House Democrats and 13 Republicans — Amash, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Rep. Jamie Herrera Butler (R-WA), Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR).
Several of these Republicans pointed to the power invested in Congress to appropriate money, echoing Pelosi’s argument that Trump’s national emergency skips over limits on presidential power laid out in the Constitution. Some said that they believed there is a problem at the border, but would not support a national emergency declaration to fix it.
“I support President Trump and I support the wall. In fact I voted to fund the wall for the full amount requested by @realDonaldTrump. I also called out President Obama when he tried to use his pen and phone to sidestep Congress on immigration, war, healthcare, and gun control,” tweeted Massie.
Hurd, who once called the border crisis a “myth” and has opposed the wall, wrote, “We have a problem at our border which is why I have supported over $220B for homeland security including technology, manpower and barriers. But possibly taking money from Joint Base SA, Laughlin AFB and Fort Bliss will not help. That’s why I voted against the national emergency.”
Headed for veto
The resolution now heads to the Senate, where several Republicans have expressed outright opposition to the national emergency. They are Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Thom Tillis (R-NC). Others, including Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), have wavered. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said there will be a vote within weeks, and while he has supported Trump’s emergency so far, he walked out of a Tuesday meeting with Vice President Mike Pence saying he wasn’t sure if Trump’s move is legal.
With 50 votes so far, the resolution would only require one more Republican defection to sail through, likely prompting Trump’s first veto in office. The White House formally threatened a veto on Tuesday. For the resolution to succeed, it would have to survive an override vote with two-thirds of both chambers voting in favor, which is unlikely. The resolution did not get enough votes Tuesday for an override to succeed.
“When you see the vote today there will be nowhere near the votes to override a veto,” House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said.
RINOs hobble national security
Pence was whipping Senate Republicans into shape over lunch on Tuesday as the resolution wound its way towards a vote in the House, while Trump warned Republicans not to fall into the Democrats’ “trap” of open borders. “I hope our great Republican Senators don’t get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we don’t have a Country – and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don’t fall into the Democrats ‘trap’ of Open Borders and Crime!” Trump tweeted Monday.
Just one day later, numerous House Republicans fell into that “trap,” and some senators may as well. While some have expressed concern that Trump’s emergency would set a dangerous precedent that would allow a Democratic president to bypass Congress, others are opposing it on principle, saying it would be hypocritical to criticize former President Obama’s executive power grabs while signing off on Trump’s emergency.
As Democrats feign concern for the Constitution, Republicans who oppose Trump are playing right into the hands of the opposition. Democrats never criticized Obama over DACA the way some Republicans have balked at Trump’s emergency, and DREAMers continue to receive the full-throated support of the Democratic party.
Once again, Democrats are voting in a block to advance their agenda while milquetoast “Republicans” hobble border security by siding with the party of open borders. With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
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