Trump vows to veto bill that would end border emergency declaration

Alex Edelman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.

President Donald Trump plans to reject a bill that would block his national emergency declaration at the southern border if the Senate passes it Thursday.

“I am prepared to veto, if necessary,” the president said in a tweet.

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Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border last month in order to divert about $3.6 billion from military construction projects to his proposed border wall. The move came after Congress appropriated only $1.4 billion of the $5.7 billion the president demanded to construct barriers on the border.

The GOP-controlled Senate is likely to approve a House-passed measure to terminate the emergency declaration on Thursday afternoon. At least four Republican senators have announced they will vote for the legislation. Combined with 47 Democrats, their support gives the Senate a simple majority needed to pass the plan.

A fifth — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina — previously said he would back the measure but has wavered in recent days. Other Republicans have criticized the emergency declaration and could vote against it.

Still, neither the Senate nor the Democratic-held House appear to have enough votes to reach the two-third majority needed to override Trump’s veto.

The declaration has put Senate Republicans in a difficult spot. They are trying to balance a desire to support Trump’s immigration policies, which are popular among the party’s voters, with professed concerns about executive overreach.

On Wednesday, Trump tried to frame the measure as an up-or-down vote on his immigration policy, rather than his flex of executive power.

“Republican Senators are overthinking tomorrow’s vote on National Emergency,” he tweeted. “It is very simply Border Security/No Crime – Should not be thought of any other way.”

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Some Republicans looked for a way out of challenging the president’s declaration. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, proposed a bill this week to give Congress more power over future emergency declarations — but not Trump’s current action.

On Wednesday afternoon, the president told Lee he would not back the plan. The GOP senator subsequently announced that “the bill does not have an immediate path forward, so I will be voting to terminate the latest emergency declaration.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday morning pledged not to take up Lee’s legislation, a move to take away a possible exit ramp for the GOP.