In a speech on Saturday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said he will vote for a resolution blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, setting the stage for the bill to pass in a humiliating defeat for the president.
According to a report in the the Bowling Green Daily News, Paul told Republicans attending the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner that he “can’t vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.”
“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” he said. “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.”
Should he votes for the resolution, Paul would be the fourth Republican to join Democrats in opposing the emergency declaration and standing up for the constitutional separation of powers.Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) all announced their opposition. Last week Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) warned Trump that the declaration might prompt Republicans to resist his excesses. Only four Republican votes are needed for a simple majority to pass the resolution.
Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have already passed a disapproval resolution. But with a threatened veto by Trump, neither house has the votes needed to override.
