SENATE VOTES TO BLOCK TRUMP EMERGENCY ORDER TO SECURE THE BORDERSENATE VOTES TO BLOCK TRUMP EMERGENCY
NYT: “The Senate on Thursday easily voted to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southwestern border, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to what lawmakers in both parties deemed executive overreach by a president determined to build his border wall over Congress’s objections. The 59-41 vote on the House-passed measures set up the first veto of Mr. Trump’s presidency. It was not overwhelming enough to override Mr. Trump’s promised veto, but Congress has now voted to block a presidential emergency declaration for the first time — and on one of the core promises that animated Mr. Trump’s political rise, the vow to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. In an attempt to limit defections ahead of the vote, Mr. Trump had sought to frame the vote publicly as not only a declaration of support for his border security policies but a sign of personal loyalty.”
The twelve Republicans who voted to block Trump - The Hill: “Here is the list of the GOP senators who voted against Trump on the emergency declaration: Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.).”
This week Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains the constitutional powers of Congress when it comes to national emergencies: "The act itself fails to define what constitutes an emergency, but the courts – as is their job where a law is ambiguous – have generally defined an emergency as a sudden and imminent threat to life, liberty and property that cannot be addressed by the exercise of ordinary government powers. … President Donald Trump, in his recent declaration of national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, ordered the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to spend unused but unauthorized money in their budgets on building a 55-mile steel barrier – ‘a big, beautiful wall’ -- along a portion of that border. Because Congress has expressly and explicitly declined to authorize the funds for the construction of such a barrier, we have a constitutional conflict on our hands.”
What bothers me most is the 12
Republican Senators who voted against their own president, but it's clear Trump can veto this and continue with securing the border. Something the establisshment in both parties doesn't seem to want.
Against the national interest, against the will of the people, and against the president of their own party.
The reason we have a U.S. Constitution and a President (as opposed to the preceding Articles of Confederation) is so we have an executive who can take quick and decisive action in the case of a national emergency. Which is precisely what President Trump is doing, despite all opposition and obstruction.
