GOP Sen. Thom Tillis supports Trump's national emergency declaration after saying he wouldn’t

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last updated 14 March 2019

A Republican senator who announced he would vote to terminate President Trump's national emergency declaration just flip-flopped completely.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in an op-ed for The Washington Post last month said that he would vote with Democrats to terminate Trump's declaration of a national emergency over the southern border. Trump made this declaration after a partial government shutdown in an attempt to obtain southern border wall funding without congressional approval. Tillis also told the Post it was an easy decision, saying: "It's never a tough vote for me when I'm standing on principle."

Tillis had warned that a future Democratic president could similarly bypass Congress in an attempt to pass an agenda conservatives may not be happy with, saying that "as a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress." He also compared the use of emergency declarations to "acting more like an 'emperor' or 'king' than a president" and said that he would, therefore, vote in favor of blocking it.

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But the Senate on Thursday voted to pass a resolution doing just that, and despite Tillis previously saying he would vote yes on it, he voted no. Tillis is up for re-election in 2020, and The Washington Post's Robert Costa reports that conservative activists and donors were "ready to start drafting primary challengers" if he voted in favor of the resolution. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports the White House threatened to play a role in primarying Republican defectors. The resolution ultimately passed the Senate with 59 votes, without help from Tillis.

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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