Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Gold Price to Stay Above $3,000/Oz as Flight to Safety Endures

1 hour ago

Trump Warns Iran That Its Nuclear Sites Could Be Bombed Again

1 hour ago

Israel Announces Daily Pauses in Gaza Fighting as Aid Airdrops Begin

1 day ago

California School Board Resigns After Audit Reveals $180M in Improper Funding

2 days ago

Fresno Crash Leaves One Dead After Car Submerges in Canal

2 days ago

A First Look at Fresno State’s Quarterback Battle

3 days ago

Israeli Columnist Alleges Ethnic Cleansing Plan in Gaza

3 days ago
House OKs Democrats' Bill Blocking Trump Emergency on Wall
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
February 27, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — Democrats ignored a veto threat and rammed legislation through the House Tuesday that would stymie President Donald Trump’s bid for billions of extra dollars for his border wall, escalating a clash over whether he was abusing his powers to advance his paramount campaign pledge.
The House’s 245-182 vote to block Trump’s national emergency declaration throws the political hot potato to the Republican-run Senate, where there were already enough GOP defections to edge it to the cusp of passage. Vice President Mike Pence used a lunch with Republican senators at the Capitol to try keeping them aboard, citing a dangerous crisis at the border, but there were no signs he’d succeeded.
“I personally couldn’t handicap the outcome at this point,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who’s planning a vote within the next three weeks.

Senate Passage Would Prompt Veto

Senate passage would force Trump’s first veto, which Congress would surely lack the votes to override. But the showdown was forcing Republicans to cast uncomfortable votes pitting their support for a president wildly popular with GOP voters against fears that his expansive use of emergency powers would invite future Democratic presidents to do likewise for their own pet policies.
Underscoring their desire to avoid a tally suggesting that Trump’s hold on lawmakers was weakening, House Republican leaders worked to keep the number of GOP supporters below 53. That’s how many would be needed to reach a two-thirds majority of 288 votes, assuming all Democrats vote “yes,” the margin required for a veto override.
Thirteen House Republicans joined all voting Democrats Tuesday to support the Democratic resolution.
The White House wrote to lawmakers formally threatening to veto the legislation. The letter said blocking the emergency declaration would “undermine the administration’s ability to respond effectively to the ongoing crisis at the Southern Border.”

‘We are at War on the Southern Border’

Republicans said Democrats were driven by politics and a desire to oppose Trump at every turn, and said Trump had clear authority to declare an emergency to protect the country. They also defended the president’s claims of a security crisis along the boundary with Mexico, which he has said is ravaged by drug smugglers, human traffickers and immigrants trying to sneak into the U.S. illegally.
“We are at war on the Southern border with the drug cartels,” said Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas.
Trump has asserted that barriers would stop drugs from Mexico from entering the U.S. In fact, government figures show that 90 percent of drugs intercepted from Mexico are caught at ports of entry, not remote areas where barriers would be constructed.
Democrats said Republicans repeatedly accused former President Barack Obama of flouting the Constitution, which gives Congress control over spending, but are ignoring Trump’s effort to do the same.
“Is your oath of office to Donald Trump, or is your oath of office to the Constitution?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asked Republicans.
They said Trump’s push for the wall reflected a continuation of the anti-immigrant views that helped fuel his election.
“Since when do we call human beings in need a national emergency?” said Mexican-born Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill. “Is he running out of insults for people like me?”
Democrats also said the crisis is a fiction manufactured by Trump to dance around Congress’ vote this month to provide less than $1.4 billion for barrier construction. That was well below the $5.7 billion Trump demanded as he futilely forced a record-setting 35-day federal shutdown.

Shifting Money to Fund Wall

“The president does not get to override Congress in a raucous temper tantrum over his inability to broker a deal” with lawmakers for more money, said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, sponsor of the one-sentence measure blocking the declaration, called Trump’s move “constitutional vandalism.”
Trump used a 1976 law to declare a national emergency and ordered the shift of $3.6 billion from military construction projects to wall building. Citing other powers, he intends to shift another $3.1 billion from Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a fund that collects seized assets.
The money would be used to build steel barriers up to 30 feet tall and other barriers and for “law enforcement efforts,” said a White House statement.
In the Senate, three Republicans have said they will back Democrats’ drive to block the emergency declaration: Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis. One more GOP defection would provide enough votes to approve the Democratic measure, assuming all Democrats and their independent allies back it.
Republicans said senators asked Pence numerous questions about which projects Trump would divert to pay for the wall, with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., saying the discussion was “hearty.” Shelby, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls spending, said his panel would quickly “backfill” money for military construction with other funds he did not identify.
“That issue won’t stay alive long,” Shelby told reporters.

Senate May Amend Resolution

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chief GOP vote counter, said there may be GOP attempts to amend the House measure, saying Republicans “think they have amendments that would improve it.”
That suggests that McConnell may try finding a way to add language that could sink the Democratic resolution or, perhaps, make it more palatable for Republicans. The law requires the Senate to vote on a measure within 18 days of receiving it from the House.
Though presidents have declared 58 emergencies under the law, this is the first aimed at acquiring money for an item Congress has explicitly refused to finance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director for national security at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice. This is also the first time Congress has cast votes on whether to annul an emergency declaration, she said.
Even with Democrats’ effort near-certain to ultimately fail, several lawsuits have been filed aimed at blocking the money, including by Democratic state attorneys general, progressive and environmental groups. Those suits at the very least are likely to delay access to those funds for months or years.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Authorities Searching for Two Armed Suspects After Terra Bella Carjacking

DON'T MISS

State Zeroes In on the Sinking San Joaquin Valley

DON'T MISS

Trump Asks for Swift Deposition of Murdoch in Epstein Defamation Case

DON'T MISS

Democratic North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Launches US Senate Bid

DON'T MISS

3 Men Who Disappeared While Fishing in Mississippi River Are Found Dead

DON'T MISS

Gold Price to Stay Above $3,000/Oz as Flight to Safety Endures

DON'T MISS

S&P, Nasdaq at Record Highs as US-EU Trade Deal Sparks Optimism in Pivotal Week

DON'T MISS

Trump Warns Iran That Its Nuclear Sites Could Be Bombed Again

DON'T MISS

Trump Sets Deadline of 10 or 12 Days for Russia on War With Ukraine

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Arrest Wanted Man Following DUI Traffic Stop and Chase

UP NEXT

Democratic North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Launches US Senate Bid

UP NEXT

3 Men Who Disappeared While Fishing in Mississippi River Are Found Dead

UP NEXT

Trump Warns Iran That Its Nuclear Sites Could Be Bombed Again

UP NEXT

Trump Sets Deadline of 10 or 12 Days for Russia on War With Ukraine

UP NEXT

Trump, EU’s Von Der Leyen to Meet on Sunday to Clinch Trade Deal

UP NEXT

Israel Announces Daily Pauses in Gaza Fighting as Aid Airdrops Begin

UP NEXT

NASA Says 20% of Workforce to Depart Space Agency

UP NEXT

Frustration, Gaza Alarm Drove Macron to Go It Alone on Palestine Recognition

UP NEXT

Trump Golfs in Scotland as Epstein Questions Persist

UP NEXT

US Judge Reaffirms Nationwide Injunction Blocking Trump Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

Democratic North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Launches US Senate Bid

39 minutes ago

3 Men Who Disappeared While Fishing in Mississippi River Are Found Dead

1 hour ago

Gold Price to Stay Above $3,000/Oz as Flight to Safety Endures

1 hour ago

S&P, Nasdaq at Record Highs as US-EU Trade Deal Sparks Optimism in Pivotal Week

1 hour ago

Trump Warns Iran That Its Nuclear Sites Could Be Bombed Again

1 hour ago

Trump Sets Deadline of 10 or 12 Days for Russia on War With Ukraine

2 hours ago

Visalia Police Arrest Wanted Man Following DUI Traffic Stop and Chase

1 day ago

Trump, EU’s Von Der Leyen to Meet on Sunday to Clinch Trade Deal

1 day ago

Israel Announces Daily Pauses in Gaza Fighting as Aid Airdrops Begin

1 day ago

California School Board Resigns After Audit Reveals $180M in Improper Funding

2 days ago

Tulare County Authorities Searching for Two Armed Suspects After Terra Bella Carjacking

Authorities are investigating an early Monday morning armed carjacking in Terra Bella, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said in a statemen...

29 minutes ago

Two armed men carjacked a man outside his Terra Bella home early Monday, July 28, 2025, fleeing with his vehicle, wallet, and phone, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said. (Tulare County SO)
29 minutes ago

Tulare County Authorities Searching for Two Armed Suspects After Terra Bella Carjacking

Measuring the Sinking Land in Merced County
32 minutes ago

State Zeroes In on the Sinking San Joaquin Valley

Rupert Murdoch attends the 2025 Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Santa Monica, California, U.S., April 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
37 minutes ago

Trump Asks for Swift Deposition of Murdoch in Epstein Defamation Case

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper attends a briefing on the Hurricane Helene response at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., October 2, 2024. (Reuters File)
39 minutes ago

Democratic North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper Launches US Senate Bid

In a photo provided by Shelby County Sheriff’s Office shows rescue workers on the Mississippi River near Memphis where the bodies of three men were recovered on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The bodies of three men who were believed to have disappeared on Tuesday evening while fishing and swimming in the Mississippi River near Memphis were found on Wednesday, the local authorities said. (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office via The New York Times)
1 hour ago

3 Men Who Disappeared While Fishing in Mississippi River Are Found Dead

24 karat gold bars are seen at the United States West Point Mint facility in West Point, New York June 5, 2013. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Gold Price to Stay Above $3,000/Oz as Flight to Safety Endures

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/ File Photo
1 hour ago

S&P, Nasdaq at Record Highs as US-EU Trade Deal Sparks Optimism in Pivotal Week

President Donald Trump looks on as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS
1 hour ago

Trump Warns Iran That Its Nuclear Sites Could Be Bombed Again

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend