Politics

Pelosi Urges Congress To Block Trump Emergency Declaration

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images and Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
Font Size:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged all members of Congress on Wednesday night in a “Dear Colleague” letter to stop President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration related to the southern border by co-sponsoring a privileged resolution of Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.

According to Pelosi, the resolution would terminate the emergency declaration using a mechanism within the National Emergencies Act (NEA), which will be introduced Friday.

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a weekly news conference January 17, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a weekly news conference January 17, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Trump declared a national emergency Feb. 15 after Congress allocated $1.375 billion for a wall along the southern border. The declaration gives the president access to $8 billion dollars for the wall. Sixteen states have already filed lawsuits to stop the president from using funding from other projects within the Department of Defense for the construction of the wall. (RELATED: California Had A Lawsuit Ready To Challenge Trump’s National Emergency Declaration)

The privileged resolution relating to Trump’s Feb. 15 national emergency declaration reads:

“Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared by the finding of the President on February 15,  2019, in Proclamation 9844 (84 Fed. Reg. 4949) is hereby terminated.”

Pelosi wrote in her letter that the House plans to move immediately to pass this bill and report it out of committee within 15 calendar days and consider it on the floor within three calendar days, as per the NEA. Following the passage in the House, Pelosi noted, “the resolution will be referred to the Senate and then sent to the President’s desk.”

Though Pelosi can find enough votes in the House to pass this bill, the resolution is likely to have a tougher time making its way through the Republican-held Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no indication he would bring such a resolution to the floor of the upper chamber.

“All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution,” Pelosi wrote. “The President’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated. We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the President’s assault.”

 Follow Kerry on Twitter

Kerry Picket is a host on SiriusXM Patriot 125