Senate Republicans said Tuesday they are looking to “revisit” a law that allows presidents to use the National Emergencies Act to redirect federal funding, as President Trump is proposing to do to build a southern border wall.
The GOP hopes a promise to take up legislation reining in the president will keep fewer Republicans from voting with Democrats this week on a resolution to revoke Trump’s border emergency.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said GOP lawmakers are in discussions to narrow the law after Trump used it to redirect $3.6 billion that Congress had dedicated to military construction funding. Trump plans to use the money instead to construct physical barriers along the southern border.
Republicans agree with the president’s efforts to build a border wall but most oppose his decision to move money Congress has already allocated.
“There’s a lot of discomfort in the law,” McConnell said after a meeting with rank-and-file Republicans.
The Senate will vote Thursday on revoking the national emergency declaration. The measure is likely to pass with the help of at least four Republicans, but Trump plans to veto it and there are not enough votes to override his veto.
The vote will largely serve as an embarrassing public rebuke of the president by his own party, even if only a few Republicans join Democrats to pass the resolution.
Senate Republicans have been in talks for weeks on how to take up the measure, and whether to amend it in a way that would rebuke Trump while allowing him to redirect the funding in this instance.
The National Emergencies Act was passed in 1976, and it affords the president special authorities if he declares a national emergency.
“Most of my members believe this is not a constitutional issue, but rather, is this granting of authority to any president, not just this president, was it too broad back in the 1970s when it was passed,” McConnell said. “We are in discussions about that.”
A bill reining in the act won’t be ready by Thursday’s vote, but lawmakers might vote on a precursor in the form of a resolution by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., providing a “sense of the Senate” that Congress should pass legislation to narrow the law at some point in the future.
“I think the president has the authority,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after the closed-door GOP meeting. “Whether or not we should change the statute, I’m open minded about that.”
Senate Republicans are eager to find a way to avoid voting against the national emergency while at the same time taking action to discourage the executive branch from moving funding appropriated by the Congress.
Trump and White House officials have been heavily pressuring GOP lawmakers to stick together and not vote in favor of the resolution revoking the national emergency.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the GOP leadership team, said fewer Republicans would cross the aisle and vote with Democrats on revoking the national emergency if they received “a signal from the White House” that the president would support a bill later on that narrows the law.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Republicans are looking for a way to back the president, who has tweeted that the vote to revoke the national emergency is “about border security,” and urged Republicans to get tough and stay united.
“It may be that some people who would otherwise vote against the president, may be willing to support the president in exchange for the ability to deliberate on how we can reform or fix the National Emergencies Act,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s a realistic possibility.”
