WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after a federal court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration’s use of the National Emergencies Act to raid funds from Department of Defense (DOD) military construction accounts to pay for the president’s border wall. Udall is the lead sponsor of the bipartisan resolution , which has twice passed the Senate, to terminate the president’s national emergency declaration, which the president is using as a pretext to try and override appropriations law and take more money for the wall than Congress has provided.
“This injunction is a victory for the rule of law over a lawless president, blocking President Trump’s unconstitutional effort to raid funds Congress provided for national security and military families to build his border wall. In a true end-run around Congress and the American people, the president declared a phony emergency at our southern border to raid projects like training facilities, military housing, and base schools to feed his political campaign for the wall. New Mexico has been particularly hard-hit – with the president robbing $125 million from national security projects in our state to finance this charade.
“While I am relieved by this ruling, Congress should not stand idly by while our power of the purse is stolen by the executive branch. To stand up for our constitutional system of checks and balances, Congress must end this national emergency declaration once and for all. Though a bipartisan majority has twice voted to terminate the president’s unlawful declaration, more Republicans need to join us in standing up for the Constitution and for national security projects in states all across the country.”
