As Donald Trump declared a national emergency to get the funding for his border wall, self-described socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democrat, Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, plan to introduce a bill to stop the President’s decree.
“.@JoaquinCastrotx and I aren’t going to let the President declare a fake national emergency without a fight,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, linking to a Bloomberg News story about their efforts to thwart the President.
.@JoaquinCastrotx and I aren’t going to let the President declare a fake national emergency without a fight. https://t.co/iPlcVVsm6U
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Castro said Thursday he is ready to push a resolution that would end Trump’s ability to declare a national emergency altogether.
“If President Trump declares a national emergency to fund his border wall, I’m prepared to introduce a resolution to terminate the President’s emergency declaration under 50 U.S.C. 1622,” Castro said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Trump would declare a national emergency in order to receive funding for his border wall, though members of both parties have warned against the idea, saying it could face legal and even constitutional challenges.
“Trump said he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought,” the Associated Press reported on Friday. “He plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall. The move is already drawing bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and expected to face rounds of legal challenges.”
“An invasion of our country”
“I am going to be signing a national emergency,” Trump said Friday, adding that he believed illegal immigration was “an invasion of our country.”
“President @realDonaldTrump signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border,” tweeted White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday.
President @realDonaldTrump signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. pic.twitter.com/0bUhudtwvS
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 15, 2019
How President Trump’s national emergency declaration stands up to legal scrutiny is anyone’s guess, but expect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Democrats to get as much political capital out of this as possible, particularly as we head into the next presidential election.
