Congress is one GOP vote away from rejecting Trump's border emergency


The most straightforward way to end President Trump's southern border emergency declaration is for Congress to terminate it with a joint resolution. The House is expected to easily pass such a resolution on Tuesday, giving the Senate 18 days to vote on the one-page, 80-word bill. On Monday night, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced in a Washington Post op-ed that he will support the resolution, joining Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Assuming all Democrats vote for the measure, it needs just one more Republican to pass in the Senate.
"Numerous Senate Republicans say that, like Tillis, they despise Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to get additional funding for his wall," Politico says. But based on interviews Monday with more than a dozen of those GOP senators, "most aren't ready to say they will vote to block him from doing so," which would carry a political cost. Trump urged Republicans to reject the resolution in a tweet on Monday, and there's little expectation Congress would override his threatened veto, "but significant Republican defections would give it momentum in the Senate and could raise the specter — however remote" — that Trump's emergency declaration will be killed by lawmakers, The New York Times reports.
At the least, Trump having to break out his veto pen "would be an embarrassing rebuke by a Congress opposed to his immigration agenda," and Republicans leaders are pressuring GOP lawmakers to support the president despite any reservations, Politico says. Democrats are encouraging GOP defections by pointing to the precedent Trump would be setting, citing letters from about 25 former GOP lawmakers and another from 58 ex-national security officials urging rejection of Trump's end-run around Congress, and circulating a list of military construction projects Trump might defund in each district to build his wall. "This isn't about the border," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday. "This is about the Constitution of the United States."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies