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US Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, is accompanied by Coast Guard Captain Brian LeFebvre, left, and Rear-Admiral Andrew Tiongson, right, while she addresses reporters after the ribbon cutting at a US Coast Guard Regional Command Center Wednesday, February 20, 2019, South Portland, Maine. Collins said she would vote for a congressional resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to build a wall on the southern border. She is the first Republican senator to publicly express her support for such a resolution. (AP Photo / David Sharp)
South Portland, Maine – Senator Susan Collins announced Wednesday that she would vote for a congressional resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump's urgent declaration to build a wall on the southern border, becoming the first Republican senator to publicly express his support for such a measure.
The Maine legislator said she would vote for a resolution as long as it focused solely on the statement.
The president's action "completely undermines" the role of Congress and has a "questionable constitutionality," she said, as she was attending a coastguard ceremony.
"If it's a clean disapproval resolution, I'll support it," she said.
Trump said an emergency last week to get funding for the wall going beyond the $ 1.4 billion approved by Congress for Border Security. He stated that he had the right to make this statement in an attempt to secure the border.
Trump's use of the emergency declaration sparked bipartisan criticism and 16 states filed a lawsuit against the statement.
"I support the lawsuit filed by the states, perhaps it's the quickest way to get an injunction that would put an end to this transfer of funds," she said. declared.
Collins spoke at the Coast Guard's South Portland location, where senior officials were celebrating an improved command center for northern New England.
A total of $ 2.3 million was spent to upgrade the 1,100 square foot (100 square meter) control center with new communications equipment, new electronics and generators, all of which will help the Coast Guard respond to maritime distress calls.
Vice Admiral Scott Buschman, commander of the Atlantic based Portsmouth, Virginia, joined Collins to attend the ribbon cutting. Rear Admiral Andrew Tiongson, District Commander, Boston; and Captain Brian LeFebvre, Commander of Northern New England.
Collins said she supports improvements to help the Coast Guard better interdict drugs, address environmental threats and ensure maritime safety.
Noting that coast guard personnel were unpaid during the recent government shutdown, Collins said that she co-sponsored legislation to ensure that the Coast Guard is no longer the only uniformed military not paid in such circumstances.
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