Democrats to Force Another Vote to End Trump’s National Emergency at the Border
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats plan to force a vote in the coming weeks to end President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southwestern border, putting pressure on Republicans to break with the president over his plans to use money designated for projects in their states to build a border wall.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, announced plans to pursue the measure on the floor Tuesday, days after the Pentagon unveiled a list of military construction projects whose funds will be diverted to pay for the wall under the national emergency Mr. Trump declared in February.
The move is not likely to result in an end to the emergency, which would require a veto-proof, two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled Senate, which has demonstrated little appetite to defy Mr. Trump. But Democrats are eager to force Republicans into a politically painful choice between rejecting Mr. Trump’s wall or explicitly endorsing a move that will deprive their states of coveted federal funding.
The gambit by Democrats signals a combative opening to already fraught negotiations in the coming weeks over federal spending, in which Republicans and Democrats must resolve a variety of differences to avert a government shutdown this fall.
The vote will be particularly difficult for politically vulnerable Republicans who ultimately decided to support the president’s declaration — only to see projects in their states on the list shelved to pay for the wall. Senators Martha McSally of Arizona and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, for example, both face tough re-election campaigns. Democrats in both states blasted out statements railing against them for approving the president’s scheme.
A dozen Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in voting to end the national emergency declaration in March, after the House passed the resolution. The measure ultimately fell short of the margin needed to override Mr. Trump’s veto, which he issued in March.
Mr. Trump designated the emergency under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which allows Congress to consider every six months whether to terminate the declaration. The law prescribes a swift procedure for advancing a resolution to do so, and requires that it be given a floor vote.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Mr. Schumer said the vote would raise “a large and vital constitutional issue: does our country truly have checks and balances, particularly important when we have such an overreaching president?”
“Democrats and Republicans alike should vote to terminate the president’s national emergency declaration,” Mr. Schumer said. “You can be sure we will make sure that everyone will have a chance to do so within the next month. If we don’t do it, how many more emergencies will the president declare? Who else will he take money from?”
The list of specific projects, which lawmakers did not have before the first vote to end the national emergency, covers practically every aspect of military life across the globe, and includes a number of schools, as well as facilities in Puerto Rico that need repair after Hurricane Maria swept through the island in 2017.
Pentagon officials have said that the projects will still move forward but that Congress will need to replace the diverted money in the upcoming spending process — something Democrats have insisted they will not do. Without congressional allocation of the funds, the projects will in effect be canceled.
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