Senate votes 59-41 to block national emergency, setting it up for Trump veto
The Senate voted 59-41 on Thursday to block President Trump's national emergency declaration, sending it to Trump's desk for a likely veto.
After Trump declared a national emergency to get the funds for his border wall, House Democrats introduced and overwhelmingly passed a resolution to overturn it. All Senate Democrats voted for the resolution, as well as 12 Senate Republicans, who largely feared the precedent a national emergency would set for a potential Democratic president.
After all Democrats and 13 Republicans in the House passed the original resolution, a number of GOP senators revealed they'd be joining Democrats to block it as well. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.) joined Democrats and 9 other Republicans at the last minute to support the termination.
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Republicans largely debated the constitutionality of Trump's move and said they feared a Democratic president might declare a national emergency for their own priorities, such as climate change. Still, neither the House nor the Senate secured a two-thirds majority they'd need to overturn Trump's probable veto of the bill.
Trump has long claimed there is an ongoing "crisis" on the southern border and demanded a border wall to curb immigration through Mexico. His refusal to back down from a desired $5.7 billion to build the wall sparked a five-week-long government shutdown, but he eventually relented to a bill with less funding before declaring the national emergency to seize the rest.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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