Washington DC (670 KBOI News) – The US Senate votes 59-41 to reject President Trump’s declaration of national emergency along the Mexican border.
That doesn’t come as much of a surprise to Idaho Senator Jim Risch, who voted against the bill…Senator Mike Crapo also voted against it.
Risch says he supports the president because something needs to be done ASAP, and Congress has given the President the power to do something.
But he says this time, it’s personal, and political.
“Congress has given the President of the United States the power to declare an emergency 60 previous times,” said Risch. “Presidents have emergencies, but in this particular case, because it’s President Trump, because there’s so much hate and animosity against him, they decided to make an issue of it.”
A total of 12 Republicans voted against the President, including Utah Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee.
The bill also passed in the Democrat controlled House…it now goes to the President, but Trump has promised to veto it, and neither body has a veto-proof majority.
The 12 Republican Senators voting for the bill are:
Romney-UT
Lee-UT
Alexander-TN
Moran-KS
Blunt-MO
Collins-ME
Murkowski-AK
Portman-OH
Rubio-FL
Toomey-PA
Paul-KY
Wicker-MS