Washington – The US Senate voted on
Wednesday for a second time to end the national emergency on the
southern border the president declared in February, a move
Donald Trump would almost certainly veto if it reached his desk.
Trump, with his very first veto, struck down a similar
measure that had cleared both the House and Senate in March.
Congress was unable to muster the votes to override that veto.
The Senate vote to approve the resolution was 54-41.
Trump declared the emergency on the southern border to
circumvent Congress and take money already designated for other
programmes to pay for his US-Mexico border wall, which he
promised to build during his 2016 campaign.
Democratic lawmakers said the move was an unconstitutional
power grab that undercut Congress's power of the purse, or the
ability to tax and spend public money for the national
government.
Republicans insisted Trump had acted legally under a 1976
law known as the National Emergencies Act, under which previous
presidents had declared dozens of emergencies.
The issue landed in the courts and Trump won an early battle
in July when the conservative-majority Supreme Court voted 5-4
to block a ruling by a federal judge in California that barred
the Republican president from redirecting $2.5 billion in funds.
Congress has refused to meet Trump's demands to fund a wall,
although it has provided some funds for border fencing and other
barriers.
This year, Trump sought $5.7 billion in wall funding. When
Congress refused, a standoff ensued that triggered a month-long
partial government shutdown that ended when the president agreed
to $1.37 billion for border barriers, far less than he wanted.
Trump then declared the emergency, vowing to divert funds
from other accounts for the wall.