The Senate on Wednesday voted for a second time to block President Trump’s border emergency declaration, with Republicans once again joining their Democratic colleagues in rebuking the president’s order.
Citing their concerns over the expansion of presidential powers, 11 Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the resolution to put a stop to the emergency declaration from Trump. The resolution passed in a simple 54-41 vote, but it is not a veto-proof majority.
The resolution, which blocks the diversion of funds for the border wall, is likely to face another veto from Trump, who in March squashed a previous bipartisan vote to block his border emergency funding.
This vote is a clear rebuke to Trump by Republicans who believe he is abusing his authority and bypassing Congress when it comes to the appropriation of federal dollars.
The Republican senators who voted for the Democratic resolution were: Lamar Alexander of Tennessee; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Susan Collins of Maine; Mike Lee of Utah; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Rob Portman of Ohio; Mitt Romney of Utah; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
Fox News is told that the House will likely make time on the floor later this week to vote to align with the Senate bill.
When the Senate voted in March to block the emergency declaration, the Pentagon had not made public the list of the $3.6 billion in military construction projects that were being cancelled in order to pay for Trump’s much-touted wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But earlier this month that was released and senators now know what specific projects in their states are being scrapped to pay for the wall.
This put pressure on a number of Republicans due for reelection in 2020 and was used before the vote by Democrats to paint the GOP supporting Trump’s declaration as being in favor of taking funding away from the military. The projects included a $63 million middle school in GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's state of Kentucky though most of them are located outside the continental U.S.
