Senate again rebukes Trump on national emergency declaration

By Marianne LeVine
Updated

The Senate voted Wednesday for a second time to block President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration, rebuking the president over his attempt to fund a border wall without congressional approval.

In a 54-41 vote, the Senate approved a resolution to disapprove of Trump's emergency declaration, including 11 Republicans. The vote comes after the Trump administration announced it would divert $3.6 billion in military construction funding from several states to build his border wall.

The president will surely veto the resolution, as he did in March. Under federal law, Democrats may bring up the emergency vote every six months.

Prior to the vote, Senate Democrats accused Republicans of prioritizing Trump over military families.

"A vote for the president today is a vote in favor of cutting money for our military and slashing support for critical military projects in red states as well as blue," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "My Republican colleagues should vote to terminate the emergency declaration today on constitutional grounds."

Among the states hit by the diversion of military funds are Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina - all of which have Republican senators up for re-election in 2020.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decried the vote as a “show vote” during his remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday morning.

“Still unwilling to work with the president and Republicans on a long-term bipartisan solution for border security, Senate Democrats are making us repeat the same show vote again,” McConnell said. “I would urge my colleagues to vote for border security.”

The actual raiding of military funds did not affect Republican votes. The breakdown was similar to the Senate’s first vote against the emergency declaration.

The eleven Republican senators joining Democrats to disapprove of the emergency declaration were Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Marco Rubio of Florida, who previously voted to disapprove of the emergency declaration did not vote.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) — all 2020 candidates — also did not vote.

Trump declared a national emergency in February to access the funds, after spending negotiations with Congress led to the longest government shutdown in history.