On brink of defeat on border emergency

[struggle4progress]

By BURGESS EVERETT and MARIANNE LEVINE
02/25/2019 08:25 PM EST Updated 02/25/2019 09:03 PM EST

President Donald Trump is on the verge of a bipartisan rejection of his emergency declaration at the border in what would be an embarrassing rebuke by a Congress opposed to his immigration agenda.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Monday night said he would join Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with 47 Senate Democrats to block Trump’s attempts to secure billions for his border wall after lawmakers effectively stiffed him. Now just one more GOP senator’s support for a resolution to block Trump's bid would send the measure to Trump’s desk and force a veto ...

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/25/trump-national-emergency-congress-1185589

[struggle4progress]

1. Former lawmakers, officials oppose

By Gary Martin / Las Vegas Review-Journal
February 25, 2019 - 4:00 pm

WASHINGTON — Former Republican lawmakers and a bipartisan group of past national security officials criticized President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration on the eve of a House vote to terminate the president’s plan to circumvent Congress.

The House is expected to vote Tuesday on a resolution of disapproval of the president’s declaration of a national emergency at the Southwest border, which would allow him to tap Pentagon and Treasury Department funds to help pay for a wall between the United States and Mexico.

“This is not about politics. This is not about partisanship. It’s about patriotism,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told a news conference at the Capitol on Monday.

The resolution is expected to pass in the Democrat-controlled House, and could advance in the Senate, where only four GOP defections and a united Democratic caucus could achieve a simple majority needed to send the bill to the president’s desk ...

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/former-lawmakers-officials-oppose-trumps-emergency-declaration-1605292/

[manor321]

2. Trump will veto it of course, but it will be embarrassing. We seem to need 1 more vote though.

[triron]

17. Don't think Trump is capable of embarrassment.

[struggle4progress]

3. Texas congressman: emergency declaration affects JBSA funds

by SBG San Antonio
Monday, February 25th 2019

... Congressman Henry Cuellar said Trump's national declaration could re-direct $3.6 billion in funds for JBSA, including more than $500 million for Department of Defense military bases in Texas.

“The President is declaring an emergency over a crisis that doesn’t exist – even going so far to say today that he ‘didn’t need to do this,” Cuellar said. “After failing to convince the Government of Mexico or the U.S. Congress to pay for his ineffective wall, the President is trying to bypass constitutional authority with his ‘emergency’ declaration. He is taking duly appropriated funding intended for the military, law enforcement, and many other priority areas in order to follow through on his campaign promise” ...

https://ktxs.com/news/texas/texas-congressman-trumps-emergency-declaration-for-ineffective-wall-affects-jbsa-funds

[struggle4progress]

4. To our fellow Republicans: Terminate emergency declaration

By Steve Bartlett and Alan Steelman
Feb. 25, 2019

Representing Texas in Congress was one of the greatest honors of our lives ...

Those now in office are now entrusted with that same duty, and they are being called to act to uphold that responsibility ... Americans may have different views on President Trump’s wall proposal, but all of us should be able to agree that an emergency declaration is a constitutionally inappropriate means to secure funding. In order to fulfill their oath of office Members of Congress should vote to terminate the emergency declaration.

Although Republicans are naturally inclined to stand with their president, it is Republicans who should be most worried about the emergency declaration ...

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/To-our-fellow-Republicans-Terminate-Trump-s-13644020.php

[struggle4progress]

5. Pence meeting with Senate GOP ahead of vote

BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/25/19 07:02 PM EST

... Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are expected to vote for a resolution to disapprove Trump's emergency declaration ...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters that he was "moving closer" to a decision but declined to say which way he was leaning.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) declined to say how he would vote, but characterized the emergency declaration as "unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the Constitution" ...

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/431507-pence-meeting-with-senate-gop-ahead-of-vote-to-block-emergency-declaration

[ooky]

23. Interesting comment by Lamar Alexander.

Why would anyone characterize something as "unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the Constitution" and then decline to say how he would vote for it? Such bullshit. Ridiculous.

[Scurrilous]

6. K&R

[struggle4progress]

7. Whip List: Where Republicans stand

BY CRISTINA MARCOS AND JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/25/19 06:29 PM EST

... House Democrats are plowing ahead with a Tuesday vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) that would terminate the emergency declaration.


With virtually unanimous support among Democrats, the measure is expected to easily pass in the House ....

SENATE ... UNDECIDED (11) ... <lists included at link>

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/431502-whip-list-where-republicans-stand-on-emergency-declaration-vote

[struggle4progress]

8. Castro says resolution 'will require historic unity'

... “It will require historic unity among members of Congress to make sure that this branch of government maintains its rightful place under our Constitution” ...

https://globalnews.ca/video/4998270/congressman-castro-says-resolution-to-banish-trumps-emergency-declaration-will-require-historic-unity-in-congress

[struggle4progress]

9. ACLU calls for House members to block Trump's emergency declaration

BY LYDIA WHEELER - 02/25/19 05:09 PM EST

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is urging House members to support a measure to kill President Trump's national emergency declaration.

In a letter Monday, ACLU asked members to vote "yes" on the disapproval resolution introduced by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) in the House last week. The measure is expected to get a vote and pass the chamber of Tuesday.

ACLU is one of several groups suing President Trump over the executive action he took after Congress refused to give him $5.7 billion in federal funding to build a wall along the southern border ...

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/431489-aclu-calls-on-house-members-to-block-trumps-emergency-declaration

[struggle4progress]

10. Emergency declaration hasn't erased his problem with suburban women

By Philip Bump
February 25 at 1:59 PM



... polling conducted by the Associated Press and NORC found that suburban women backed Democratic House candidates in 2018 by a 19-point margin. Suburban men backed Republican candidates by a three-point margin. About 6 in 10 college-educated women voted for the Democratic candidate, preferring them to Republicans by a 16-point margin ...

... a recent NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist poll. It asked whether respondents approved or disapproved of Trump’s national emergency declaration. Overall, 36 percent of adults said they approved — while 31 percent of suburban women agreed ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/25/no-trumps-national-emergency-declaration-hasnt-erased-trumps-problem-with-suburban-women/?utm_term=.348cf63ee36b

[struggle4progress]

11. Gaming out whether Congress will buck emergency declaration

By Cameron Joseph
February 25, 2019 1:55 pm

... Senate Democrats are expected to introduce a near-identical resolution sometime this week, starting a legally mandated countdown that will likely force a Senate vote on the emergency declaration ...

... The measure would only needs 51 votes to pass the Senate, as it is not subject to the filibuster. If Democrats all support it, as expected, only four Republicans would need to split off to pass it and force Trump to issue his first veto ...

By law, once the measure is introduced in the Senate, it will be sent to committee, where it must receive a vote within 15 calendar days. Whether it passes in committee or not, it will be reported out of committee and must get a vote on the Senate floor three days after that.

The measure can be amended, giving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) some room ... But it’s unclear .. what poison pills can be added. It appears that McConnell would be blocked from adding a provision for border wall money ... And .. it’s unclear at this point how hard he’s willing to work to block a vote on a bill many of his own members want to vote on.

This all means that the Senate is likely to vote on the bill sometime in mid-March, and that it stands a good chance of passage — though it’ll likely fall far short of the 67-vote threshold needed to overcome a Trump veto ...

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gaming-out-whether-congress-will-buck-trump-on-his-emergency-declaration

[struggle4progress]

12. House Dems gear up for Tuesday vote

Feb. 25, 2019, 12:42 PM EST / Updated Feb. 25, 2019, 6:35 PM EST
By Rebecca Shabad

... Former Obama homeland security secretary Jeh Johnson said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t think it was appropriate for the president to have declared a national emergency.

“That is intended for military construction in support of a war or a national emergency, historically, overseas. And so this is really, in my judgment, trying to fit a square peg in a round hole,” Johnson said. “Better to work with Congress and collectively come to the smartest, best solution” ...

Freshman Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., wondered in an interview on MSNBC’s “Kasie DC” on Sunday why it took two years for Trump declare the emergency.

“What was happening for the first two years of his presidency, when his party literally had the keys to the castle?” Rose said. “No declaration of a state of emergency. But now it happens. And I believe the reason is because this is politics. It's politics at play. It's an opening salvo to Trump/Pence 2020, and that's what's wrong here” ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-dems-gear-tuesday-vote-nullify-trump-s-emergency-border-n975696

[UTUSN]

13. We can only hope?

[struggle4progress]

16. We have to get this ticket punched. Then we move onto the next step

[struggle4progress]

14. Alabama could lose almost $7 million under emergency

... Collectively, the 50 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories have more than $6 billion in federal funding that could be diverted to fund the wall ...

Alabama’s portion of the money – the lowest total of any state – are cuts of some $5.2 million to military construction projects and $1.76 million in funding for National Guard anti-drug trafficking efforts. The total amount of cuts in Alabama would be more than $6.94 million.

https://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Alabama-could-lose-almost-7-million-under-Trumps-border-wall-emergency-declaration-506325991.html

[struggle4progress]

15. Senator Murray: emergency declaration undermines democracy

BY MYNORTHWEST STAFF
FEBRUARY 25, 2019 AT 6:28 AM

Senator Patty Murray says she expects that President Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall to play out in the courts, but that Congress should also take action and hold a vote to challenge it.

“We will have a vote on this,” Murray told KIRO Radio. “But I’m worried that a number of Republicans are backing away from what they said just weeks ago, that they did not want the President to use his powers to usurp the powers of Congress.”

“I think fear, fear of their own elections in Republican districts and being primaried” ...

http://mynorthwest.com/1283723/murray-border-wall-trump/

[spanone]

18. K&R...

[bluecollar2]

19. I'm not buying the Collins narrative..n/t

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. never count on Collins' concern

She's always very concerned about being concerned, and then votes in lock-step (goose-step?) with the Russiapublicans of the Senate.

[jmowreader]

20. No...we need at least two more Republicans

If it comes up 50-50, Pence will vote Nay and kill the thing. We need a 51-49 vote AT MINIMUM to send it to Trump, and we ideally need 67 Senate votes and about 290 House votes. This will make the thing veto-proof.

[struggle4progress]

21. It's useful to us even if there's a veto -- because we can use it in the future against GOP