Fellow Patriot: The voluntary financial generosity of supporters like you keeps our hard-hitting analysis coming. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today. Thank you for your support! —Nate Jackson, Managing Editor

March 14, 2019

Lee’s Plan to Save Trump’s Emergency Declaration

Republicans are divided on Trump’s border barrier amid concerns over executive overreach.

The Senate will vote today on a resolution to override President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund the border barrier. The Democrat-controlled House easily passed the resolution last month with the help of 13 Republicans who joined the Democrats. It’s likely that the Senate will also pass the measure, as up to 15 GOP senators may vote to override.

Republicans find themselves in a difficult position. While the majority agree with Trump on the need to secure the border, some object to his evoking an emergency declaration as the means to garner greater funding. Many conservatives have long argued that the National Emergencies Act cedes too much power from Congress to the executive branch.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Tuesday sought to offer a possible solution that would serve to uphold Trump’s emergency declaration while at the same time reining in executive power on future emergency declarations. Lee’s bill, which actually has Trump’s support, would require congressional approval within 30 days of an emergency declaration by the president or it would automatically terminate. Lee argued, “If Congress is troubled by recent emergency declarations made pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, they only have themselves to blame. If we don’t want our president acting like a king, we need to start taking back the legislative powers that allow him to do so.”

The trouble is that, should the Senate take up and pass Lee’s resolution — the unwieldily named Assuring that Robust, Thorough, and Informed Congressional Leadership is Exercised Over National Emergencies (ARTICLE ONE) Act — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has already declared it DOA in the House.

So, as things currently stand, even if the Senate passes the House’s resolution, Trump is certain to veto it. And the Senate doesn’t have the votes to override that veto, effectively keeping Trump’s emergency declaration in place while it’s duked out in the courts. “And for what?” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board asks. “The President doesn’t need to invoke a national emergency to build his wall along the southern border. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has pointed out that the White House already has funds at its disposal without declaring an emergency.”

Trump currently has enough money to move forward on constructing the border barrier through to the next round of budget negotiations in the fall, when he can once again press Congress for more border funding. Seemingly, all the emergency declaration has done is give Democrats more political fodder to attack Trump, while dividing Republicans over the issue of executive overreach. We still argue that Trump has not exceeded his authority under the law as it stands currently, but we also believe that the National Emergencies Act grants too much power to the executive branch.


Update: “The Senate voted on Thursday to nix President Trump’s national emergency declaration to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall, setting up the first veto battle with his White House,” reports The Hill.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.