Emergency Declaration

[robkelk]

House of Representatives votes to block Trump's emergency order 245-182

Now it goes to the Senate.

Senate passage would force Trump's first veto, which Congress would surely lack the votes to override. But the showdown was forcing Republicans to cast uncomfortable votes pitting their support for a president wildly popular with the party's voters against fears that his expansive use of emergency powers would invite future Democratic presidents to do likewise for their own pet policies.

So, yes, this isn't going to make an immediate difference - but it forces Senators to choose where they stand on this issue.

And some background:

Though presidents have declared 58 emergencies under the law, this is the first aimed at acquiring money for an item Congress has explicitly refused to finance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director for national security at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. This is also the first time Congress has cast votes on whether to annul an emergency declaration, she said.