The US Senate comfortably blocked president Donald Trump’s National Emergency declaration, which he meant to use as a strategy to divert funds to his dream wall on the US-Mexico border, with a 59-41 vote. It wasn’t even close. Every single one of the 47 Democrats voted yes to block the National Emergency Declaration while 12 Republicans, far more than the minimum, joined them against the president from their own party.
In an attempt to prevent his declaration to pass in the Senate floor (a block which had been previously approved by the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives), the White House went on a twitter rant, publishing alleged images of immigrants crossing the fence at the border, claiming this was, in fact, a true emergency. But, alas, to no avail. US Congress proved, once again, there’s still a limit to what a president can single-handedly decide.
Republican Senators who defected are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Marco Rubio of Florida, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Mike Lee of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
Senator Moran of Kansas even published a letter on Twitter citing threat to constitutional checks and balances as his reason behind his vote.
This is how Trump responded to the Senate:
What’s next?
Democrats can celebrate for now, especially since this is the third vote this week that aims at limiting what any president, but particularly this one, can do. Trump is now forced to use his first veto as president, which in turn forces the Senate to attempt to override his veto. However, they would need 67 votes for that, 8 more than today’s results gave them. Will they get them?
Thus, if this declaration is to be blocked, the best chance Democrats have is the court, where a series of legal challenges will come to Democratic state attorneys general, borderland residents and environmental groups, but it’s too soon to tell.
Good news is this week has definitely shown Congress is not afraid to stand up to Trump. Yesterday, the Senate voted to prevent the President from continuing military involvement with the war in Yemen and today, not only did the Senate block the national emergency declaration, but the House passed a resolution demanding Special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections to go public. That resolution was blocked in the Senate. “But”, said Minority leader Chuck Schumer at a press conference, “that resolution will be back”.
Read more: How a National Emergency Will Affect You And Millions Of Americans
@chuckschumerRepublicans are clearly beginning to confront the president, especially after the longest government shutdown in history, but how far are they willing to go?
You don’t want to miss: 10 Blatant Lies Trump Says To Play You For A Fool
