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WASHINGTON – More than 25 former Republican lawmakers and nearly 60 former senior national security officials on Monday called on Congress to nullify President Trump's statement of a national emergency on the Mexican border, thwarting Republican leaders' efforts to maintain defections on Tuesday during a scheduled House vote block the president.
"It has always been a fundamental republican principle that no matter how strong our political preferences, regardless of our loyalty to presidents or party leaders, to remain a constitutional republic, we must act within the confines of the Constitution" , wrote the president. former congressmen, including Senators John Danforth, Chuck Hagel, Olympia J. Snowe and Richard Lugar, who implored the Republicans to protect the power of the Constitutionally Funded Stock Exchange.
Security officials said there was no "documented emergency regarding terrorism or national security at the southern border" or "a violent crime emergency."
The president's claims "are not refuted by the public but by official data, documents and statements of its agencies," officials said, including Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, and John O. Brennan, former CIA director, said in their statement.
"No plausible evaluation of evidence is now a national emergency," they wrote.
The House vote Tuesday on a statement of disapproval will force Republicans to choose between the congressional prerogative on federal spending listed in the Constitution and a president determined to bypass the legislature to secure funds for a border wall that the Congress refused to grant. The resolution should be voted on by the Democrats, but the Republicans' significant defections would give it a boost in the Senate and could spur the specter – however distant it may be – that Congress could override the veto promised by Mr. Trump if he reached his desk.
On Monday, Trump turned his attention to the Senate, where only four Republican votes are needed to adopt the measure, if the Democrats remain united, as expected. Mr. Trump warned Republicans not to "fall into the" trap "of Democrats: Open Borders and Crime!"
Many Conservative senators have expressed concern that Mr. Trump's statement is a precedent that could be used by a determined Democratic president to obtain funds that Congress will not grant.
The Republicans of the Top House are urging their members to focus on what they say is a legitimate need for border security money and the precedent created by other presidents who have declared their own national emergencies, according to a Republican assistant. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican whip and other members of his vote counting team will press for votes against the resolution during a Monday night session.
A representative of the Republican House of Representatives, Michigan representative Justin Amash, signed the resolution to block the statement, criticizing the idea that congressional Republicans who attacked President Barack Obama's use of executive powers "are demanding now a king who usurps legislative powers. "
Several lawsuits have already been initiated to challenge the validity of the statement, but the best way for Congress to counter it is to pass a resolution, under the National Emergencies Act of 1976. Once voted, the Senate is required to take within 18 days.
Republicans in the House are confident that even with defections supporting the resolution on Tuesday, they will muster enough conservative support to maintain a presidential veto.
Democrats describe Tuesday's vote as a referendum on protecting the separation of powers and the constitutional right of Congress to determine federal spending levels.
"This is the oath we are taking to protect and defend the United States Constitution," said President Nancy Pelosi at a press conference in Laredo, Texas on Friday. "Our founders have very wisely placed in the provision of the Constitution relating to the separation of powers."
Members of the House Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday to review the impact of the statement on military construction and readiness, and members of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to review in part the use of Mr. Trump's powers under the National Emergencies Act.
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