Senators Defend the Constitution and Congress with Vote on National Emergency Resolution

(WASHINGTON)—Today, the Senate voted 59-41 to pass a resolution terminating the national emergency President Trump declared on the U.S. southern border.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, stated:

Today, Congress chose to defend our Constitution and fulfill its role as a co-equal branch of government. This vote was about our founding document, not border security. That’s why we believed that there was a bigger opportunity for many Republican senators to choose the Constitution over politics.

The cynical Washington common wisdom was that only a handful of Republicans were willing to vote for this resolution. But just like we saw in the lead-up to the vote in the House, many more are beginning to demonstrate a commitment to preserving our system of checks and balances.

With the president expected to veto the legislation, I encourage Congress to vote to override it. And while a veto is difficult to overcome, many members of Congress who voted against protecting the Constitution will be faced with another opportunity to do the right thing.

As we wrote in testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, “[b]y declaring a national emergency to circumvent Congress’s spending decision on border security, the president is acting as appropriator and legislator, roles exclusively reserved for the Congress.”

Media Contacts:Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), [email protected] or (202) 347-1122; or Tim Farnsworth, Chief Communications Strategist at POGO, [email protected] or (202) 347-1122.

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