Daily Times

The US House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on a resolution aimed at stopping President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the border with Mexico, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday.

House Democrats introduced the resolution early on Friday, taking the first step to challenge Republican Trump’s assertion that he could take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build the wall.

Pelosi predicted the resolution would pass the Democratic-controlled House. Action would then move to the Republican-majority Senate, where the measure’s future is less clear.

In any case, Trump vowed on Friday to veto the measure if it passes both chambers and gets to his desk. Congress would then have to muster the two-thirds majority necessary – a very high hurdle – to override his veto in order for the measure to take effect. “On the wall? Will I veto it? One hundred percent. One hundred percent, and I don’t think it survives a veto. We have too many smart people that want border security, so I can’t imagine that it could survive a veto,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. About 226 House lawmakers have joined the sponsor, Democratic US Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, in backing the legislation. The co-sponsors so far include one Republican, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, Castro said. “What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab,” Castro said in a conference call with reporters. He called on all members of Congress – Democrats and Republicans – to support the resolution terminating Trump’s emergency declaration, saying it tramples on congressional authority and would set a dangerous precedent.

Under the US Constitution, Congress decides how taxpayer dollars are spent. The president can, however, veto spending bills. Trump declared the national emergency last week after Congress declined to fulfil his request for $5.7 billion this year to help build the wall. The measure needs only a simple majority in both the House and Senate. It will need the votes of at least four Republicans to pass the Senate, assuming all the Democrats and the two independents there back it.

Published in Daily Times, February 24^th 2019.