On Thursday, 12 Republican senators voted to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency, Those senators included Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee and Mitt Romney of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rob Portman of Ohio, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Roger Wicker of Missouri. All Democratic senators voted to terminate the emergency declaration.
But, the U.S president has reiterated he will veto the measure. He immediately tweeted after the vote. He said, “VETO”! “I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country. I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL”!
It can be the first veto of Trump’s presidency with a 2nd soon to likely follow due to his intention to also veto a resolution passed Wednesday that would end U.S support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. 7 Republicans sided with Democrats on that vote. Collins said, “I see them as two totally unrelated issues that just happened to occur this week. As far as the emergency declaration is concerned, I truly believe that this is the case where the Senate has to stand up for its constitutional responsibilities and institutional prerogatives”.
The U.S Congress doesn’t have enough votes to secure a two-thirds veto-proof majority. It leads to the executive action taken by the U.S President to be tied up in ongoing court battles for the foreseeable future. Trump is looking a total of $8 billion for his wall. The $1.375 billion is appropriated from the U.S Congress, in which $600 million from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from the Defense Department’s drug interdiction efforts, and $3.5 billion from Department of Defense military construction.