WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on President Trump’s veto of a resolution terminating his national emergency declaration. The resolution passed the Senate by a margin of 59-41 today. Udall was the lead sponsor of the bipartisan Senate resolution to terminate the declaration.
“Across party lines, Congress rejected the president’s national emergency power grab in historic fashion. But the president is not listening, and continues to try to force through this unconstitutional move against the will of Congress and the American people.
“This does not end with the president’s veto. I hope that the House will vote to override this veto and that the Senate will as well. But even if too many Republicans are still afraid of this president and his threats of political retaliation – and neglect to rise to their constitutional duties – this is only the beginning.
“We will continue to work in a bipartisan way to block the president from going around Congress to ransack taxpayer money for his pet project. The appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2020 has already begun, and Congress will have another opportunity to decide whether we mean what we say when we make our funding decisions. That discussion should start with our recent legislation— the RAIDER Act —which would make crystal clear that no president can raid taxpayer money at will from appropriated funds for a wasteful, offensive, and ineffective southern border wall.
“In addition, the National Emergencies Act allows Congress to speak up on this matter every six months. We can and very likely will vote on this again. If the president follows through on his threats to raid military construction or disaster funding under this authority, the final result may well be different.”
