Last updated on March 16th, 2019 at 11:57 am
More than a dozen Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would give Congress more authority when it comes to terminating future national emergency declarations.
According to The Hill, “The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), would require that Congress pass a resolution extending an emergency declaration after 30 days for it to continue, otherwise it would be terminated.”
“If Congress is troubled by recent emergency declarations made pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, they only have themselves to blame,” Sen. Lee said in a statement, according to The Hill. “Congress gave these legislative powers away in 1976 and it is far past time that we as an institution took them back. 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.”
More from the report:
In addition to Lee, GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Pat Toomey (Pa.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Jerry Moran (Kansas), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Todd Young (Ind.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Roger Wicker (Miss.) are supporting the legislation.
The legislation — known as the Assuring that Robust, Thorough, and Informed Congressional Leadership is Exercised Over National Emergencies (or ARTICLE ONE) Act — would be a significant change to the mechanism Congress has to block a national emergency declaration.
The legislation is a clear blow to Trump
The measure introduced by Republican senators is a clear blow to Donald Trump, as it comes in the wake of the president’s own national emergency, which he declared after Congress refused to give him funds for a vanity wall on the southern border.
While the GOP legislation would apply to future emergency declarations, Republican support for the measure isn’t a good sign for Trump days before the Senate votes on his national emergency.
Already, as many as 15 Republican senators could vote to block Trump‘s declaration – a potentially humiliating defeat for the president, even if he does ultimately issue a veto.
At the end of the day, the legislation introduced by GOP lawmakers on Tuesday is the clearest sign yet that even they are growing uncomfortable with Trump‘s abuse of power.
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