After plenty of wavering and defections scarce enough to be treated as milestones, 12 Republican senators voted to rebuke President Trump over seizing emergency powers to “build the wall.” Although passing the bill is clearly the right outcome, this vote is no victory for the GOP.
Ever since President Trump first floated the idea of declaring a “national emergency” to address the “crisis” at the southern border, it was clear that it was not about dealing with a real issue but instead circumventing Congress’ power of the purse to pursue a campaign promise.
But that quick and dirty fix to the checks and balances written into the Constitution comes at a heavy price: undercutting the very document that underpins our democracy. Not only does that pave the way for worrying future abuses, but it also delegitimizes the power of lawmakers to do the job they were elected to do which includes appropriating federal funds.
For Republican lawmakers who often tout their credentials as defenders of the Constitution, there should be no reason to allow for such clear abuse of power. Indeed, they should eagerly take advantage of any opportunity to back up their rhetoric with a firm vote upholding the separation of powers.
That so many Republicans in both the House and the Senate were unwilling to do so speaks volumes about their true priories and devastates their own claims to integrity and conservative values. Instead, those votes backing up Trump’s emergency powers reveal them for what they are: fair-weather constitutionalists only willing to uphold the foundational ideas of the nation when it serves their interests, and especially not when doing so goes against the president.
That is a tremendous loss not only for the party but for the country. Conservatives who have been an important bulwark against attempts from the Left to erode fundamental constitutional principles can no longer claim credibility.
Instead, they proved their critics right: Those values were purely in service of partisanship. When asked to pick between the two, they sided with the party.
Not only was the vote not the unanimous rebuke it should have been, but there also weren’t even enough votes to override the eventual presidential veto. Loyalty to the Constitution indeed.
