House Falls Far Short of Veto-Proof Majority Needed to Block President’s National Emergency Declaration

By 

Jordan Sekulow

|
February 27, 2019

2 min read

National Security

A

A

In a critical vote in the House of Representatives, opponents of the President’s National Emergency declaration fell far short of the veto-proof majority needed to block the emergency declaration and funding for border security and the wall.

As Fox News notes:

Democrats on Tuesday pushed unprecedented legislation through the House to block President Trump's national emergency declaration to steer billions of extra dollars to his southern border wall, raising the prospect that Trump might issue his first-ever veto to defeat the effort.

The vote was 245-182, with all Democrats voting yea and 13 Republicans joining them.

Monday's vote marked the first time the House or Senate has tried to terminate a presidential declaration of a national emergency, using the provisions of the National Emergencies Act of 1976. Former Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., attempted a similar effort regarding a national emergency declared by then-President George W. Bush, but the measure never came to a vote on the House floor.

Should enough Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate defect and support the House bill, a two-thirds supermajority in both the Senate and House would be needed to override Trump's veto. The White House issued a formal veto threat Tuesday ahead of the House vote, ramping up pressure on Republicans to hold the line. (With 427 representatives voting, the House needed 285 yeas to have a veto-proof margin on this legislation, and fell far short.)

While the measure achieved a majority vote and will head to the Senate, it fell 40 votes short of a veto-proof majority. Thus, even if the Senate were to vote to end the National Emergency, the House would not likely be able to override the President’s promised veto.

As we have explained in our extensive legal analysis, this is the method Congress set up to end a National Emergency declaration. It appears that opponents of border security thus far do not have the votes needed to defeat it.

You can read the ACLJ’s in-depth legal analysis on the statutory and constitutional authority to issue the National Emergency declaration here.

The 13 Republican Members of Congress who voted to block the National Emergency declaration are below:

Justin Amash (MI-3)
Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1)
Mike Gallagher (WI-8)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-3)
Will Hurd (TX-23)
Dusty Johnson (SD)
Thomas Massie (KY-4)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5)
Francis Rooney (FL-19)
Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-5)
Elise Stefanik (NY-21)
Fred Upton (MI-6)
Greg Walden (OR-2)