Senate Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues on
Thursday in voting to block President Trump’s border emergency declaration -- a move expected to
prompt the president's first-ever veto.
The measure passed 59-41 as a dozen Republicans joined
Democrats in voting for the resolution, despite White House efforts to keep the
GOP united on the issue of border security. Those GOP members who backed the
resolution cited concerns about the expansion of presidential powers.
“I’m going to be voting in favor of the resolution of
disapproval,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters ahead of the vote. “This
is a constitutional question, it’s a question of the balance of power that is
core to our constitution.”
“This is not about the president or border security, in
fact I support border security, I support a barrier,” he said.
The other Republicans who voted to oppose the declaration
were Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Lamar Alexander,
R-Tenn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Roy Blunt, D-Mo., Jerry Moran,
R-Kansas, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., however, had said he would
oppose the declaration but reversed course on the Senate floor,
saying that he was "sympathetic" to Trump's push to deal with the
crisis at the border.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., before the
vote, said he "takes his hat off" to Republicans voting with
Democrats, while accusing Trump of "going around Congress" with
the declaration.
"This is a momentous day," he said, declaring
that the balance of power was shifting back toward Congress.
However, Trump is all but certain to answer the
resolution with his first presidential veto. The measure heads next to his
desk, having previously passed the House.
Trump originally issued the emergency declaration last
month after Congress granted only a fraction of the $5.7 billion he requested
for a wall on the southern border. Declaring a national emergency allows Trump
to steer an extra $3.6 billion to the wall.
The run-up to the resolution vote was marked by
last-minute efforts to avoid an intra-party confrontation, but those efforts
fell through. Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, urged Republicans to
support the national emergency declaration in an interview on “Fox &
Friends” Thursday morning.
“A vote against the president's national emergency
declaration is a vote to deny the humanitarian and security crisis that's
happening at our southern border. So we're urging every member of the Senate
set politics aside to recognize that we have a crisis,” he told "Fox &
Friends’" Pete Hegseth.
The House and Senate would need a two-thirds
majority in both chambers to override a presidential veto -- which they almost
certainly will not be able to muster.
Trump shrugged off the impending vote when asked about it
by reporters in the Oval Office earlier Friday.
“I don’t know what the vote will be, it doesn’t matter,
I’ll probably have to veto,” he said.
Sen. Lee on Tuesday had introduced a bill that
would automatically end future emergency declarations after 30 days, a move
that might have allowed Republicans to vote against Thursday's resolution.
But after Trump said he opposed Lee’s legislation, Lee
said he would back the measure to rebuke Trump on the border emergency. On the
Senate floor, he said while he backs Trump's policies on immigration, he could
not support the emergency declaration and that Congress needed to take back its
powers.
Trump tweeted ahead of the vote that if Congress wanted
to amend the law governing emergency declarations in the future, “I will
support those efforts” suggesting another last-minute push to keep Republicans
on board.
Trump, shortly before the vote, said on Thursday that “a
vote for today’s resolution by Republican senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi,
crime and the Open Border Democrats.”
Fox News’ Lukas Mikelionis, Kelly Phares and
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
