House Democrats Formally Introduce Resolution To Block Trump

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President Donald Trump continues to maintain his administration’s antagonism to basic principles of American government, and in response, Congressional Democrats have now introduced a resolution to block his recent declaration of national emergency over the supposed crisis at the southern border. The White House hopes to use that emergency declaration to get billions of dollars for southern border wall construction by going around Congress, which has the legally mandated job of oversight of government funding.

Pushing House Democratic caucus members to join onto the resolution against the declaration, House Speaker Nacy (D-Calif.) wrote:

‘President Trump’s emergency declaration proclamation undermines the separation of the powers and Congress’s power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive.’

You’d hope that a president of the United States wouldn’t be so keen on ignoring the basic principles of the system that allowed for them to assume their position in the first place, but here we are. President Trump has routinely dismissed the legitimacy of the justice system — and now he has again dismissed the legislative branch as well, explicitly casting his plan for a wall as the necessary option.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) sponsored the House Democratic response, which sported a whopping 222 co-sponsors. The resolution shutting down the emergency declaration is allowed for by the legislation that opens up the opportunity for the declaration in the first place.

Although the Democratic resolution will likely pass the House thanks to the currently in-place Democratic majority and promises from Democratic leadership to act swiftly on the measure, it could fail in the Senate, where Republicans still have a majority. Although a number of prominent Republicans have expressed dismay with the emergency declaration, that opposition has not been adopted as anywhere near a party-wide platform including the leadership.

Another problem is that even if the resolution cancelling the emergency declaration does pass both Congressional chambers, the president could veto it, and seeking a veto-proof, two-thirds majority in both chambers to overcome that would be a nearly impossible task considering current political divisions.

Still, the declaration could be toppled through other means. This past Monday, a full 16 states led by California filed a lawsuit in Northern California’s federal District Court alleging that the president’s power grab is blatantly unconstitutional.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra insisted:

‘[Trump] knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court. He is willing to manipulate the Office of the Presidency to engage in unconstitutional theatre performed to convince his audience that he is committed to his ‘beautiful’ border wall.’

The numbers fully back up Becerra’s claim that there is no border crisis. Information available via the Trump administration itself indicates that there are none of the high crime rates Trump has claimed are associated with the southern border or undocumented immigration in general.

Confronted with these facts during his press conference announcing his emergency declaration, Trump claimed the numbers were wrong and there is some vast unreported undocumented immigrant criminal network, which he had no basis for besides racist singling out of people who are not white.

Featured Image via YouTube screenshot