Senate GOP warns Trump against using national emergency for border wall

by Jordain Carney - 02/04/19 9:41 PM ET

Senate Republicans are warning President Trump ahead of his State of the Union speech against using a national emergency declaration to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

GOP lawmakers warned that declaring a national emergency would be met with resistance on Capitol Hill, where Congress could try to block Trump by using a resolution of disapproval.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said that he and “a lot of my colleagues” have concerns about the precedent Trump would set if he declared a national emergency to construct the border wall.

“There’s a lot of reservations in the conference about it and I hope they don’t go down that path,” Thune told reporters.

{mosads}Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), told reporters that declaring a national emergency would be a “dangerous step” that likely wouldn’t allow Trump to build the wall border wall because it would get bogged down in court and challenged in Congress.

Congress has until Feb. 15 to get a deal on funding for the border wall and to prevent a second shutdown, which would impact roughly a quarter of the government. The president is demanding $5.7 billion for the wall; Democrats have rejected money for a concrete wall but signaled some openness to fencing or other barriers.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a member of the conference committee tasked with finding a deal, told reporters that a national emergency wouldn’t be his preferred route.

“I wouldn’t prefer one. I believe we should continue to work toward the legislative solution,” he said. “I do believe that the president’s probably got the power under the Constitution and maybe under the statue to do that, but I would rather us do it.”

Trump has refused to rule out declaring a national emergency if Congress isn’t able to reach a deal on wall funding, despite public pushback from Republicans including McConnell.

He hinted to reporters on Friday that they should “listen closely” to his State of the Union speech.

“I don’t take anything off the table. I don’t like to take things off the table. It’s that alternative. It’s national emergency, it’s other things and you know there have been plenty national emergencies called,” Trump separately told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” when asked if he would shut down the government.

Democratic leadership hasn’t announced if they would force a resolution of disapproval vote if Trump declares a national emergency, though Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last month that he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would “look at any legislative way to stop it.”

Democrats would likely be able to pass the resolution easily through the House and kick the fight to the Senate, where Schumer would be able to force a vote.

McConnell reportedly warned Trump that a resolution blocking his emergency declaration would be able to get enough GOP votes to pass, forcing the president to issue his first veto.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), while caveating that she doesn’t know what Trump is going to, said she is “in general opposed to the president using the National Emergencies Act.”

“I don’t think the intent was for it to be used in this kind of situation. And as a member of the Senate I’m very concerned if the president believes that he can reallocate or repurpose appropriations for which we have designated very specific purposes,” she said.

“It also is in my judgement of dubious constitutionality,” Collins added. “So I don’t really think it gets him to the goal.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters that he would be studying the issue, including what it meant for the “constitutional division of power.”

Republicans have tried to stick closely to Trump during the months-long fight over the border wall, which remains a potent issue among the party’s base. But there have been growing fractures about shutdown strategy after GOP senators became increasingly anxious during the 35-day partial funding lapse.

Trump would likely have some GOP support if he declared a national emergency.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has repeatedly told reporters that he doesn’t think it would “be the end of Western civilization,” while also saying last week that he didn’t know how he would vote on an effort to block the declaration.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) acknowledged that Trump circumventing Congress on the wall fight divides Republicans, but urged his colleagues to line up behind the president.

“It seems to me that he’s gonna have to go it alone, but there could be a war within the Republican party over the wall,” Graham said.

He added that “any Republican who denies the president the ability to act as commander in chief, you’re going to create a real problem within the party.”