Small Wars Journal

Congress Votes to Cancel Trump’s National Emergency Amid Worries it Hurts the Military; Veto Expected

Fri, 03/15/2019 - 4:43am

Congress Votes to Cancel Trump’s National Emergency Amid Worries it Hurts the Military; Veto Expected by Joe Gould and Leo Shane III - Defense News

The Senate voted 59-41 on Thursday to overturn President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration, citing in part concerns with plans to divert billions of dollars from the Pentagon budget to build a southern border wall — a plan critics say would harm military readiness.

Twelve Republicans joined every Democrat to pass the resolution — a vote which may trigger the first veto of Trump’s presidency. Trump has framed the issue as a matter of national security, and has already deployed thousands of active-duty troops to southern states to assist with border security missions and wall construction.

But critics of the plan call it an inappropriate use of military funding, one that will take away about $3.6 billion in construction funds from unnamed base projects. They also say Trump’s use of emergency powers to redirect money Congress already appropriated violates the spirit of the Constitution….

Read on.