Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday Democrats would force a vote to terminate the president’s national emergency declaration after the administration moved to use military funds to construct the wall along the southern border.
The New York Democrat said President Trump was usurping the power of the purse belonging to Congress, which has the authority over spending.
“We’ve never had such a president overreach on an emergency basis,” Mr. Schumer said on the chamber floor. “This issue rises to a large and vital constitutional issue.”
He said the president is “stealing” the money from the military, calling it a “power grab by a president who refuses to accept the constitutional separation of powers.”
It would be the second attempt by Democrats to override the president’s move. They previously forced a vote on the issue where about a dozen Republican senators joined them in rejecting the president’s border emergency as an abuse of power.
Mr. Trump declared a national emergency earlier this year to use more than $3 billion in military funds to build the wall after Congress denied him the money his administration had requested.
The move has also been challenged in the courts.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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