WASHINGTON (AP) - In a stunning rebuke, the Republican-controlled Senate has voted to terminate President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Senate voted 59-41 for a resolution to halt Trump's emergency order. Trump has promised to veto it, and it is unlikely that Congress will have the votes to override him.

Yet the vote represents a remarkable break between Trump and Senate Republicans. It's the first time Congress has used its power to reject a presidential emergency order.

Trump wants to use his declaration to steer $3.6 billion more to border barriers than lawmakers approved. He had warned Republicans to stick with him on the vote. He said doing otherwise would be siding with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But several Republicans defied that warning.

Trump wants to steer $3.6 billion more to border barriers than lawmakers approved. The move is also being challenged in court. </s> WASHINGTON — Opponents of President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border appear to have enough Senate votes to reject his move, now that Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he can't go along with the White House.

The House of Representatives has voted to derail the action, and if the Senate follows later this month, the measure would go to Trump for his promised veto.

Three other Republican senators have announced they'll vote "no": Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Paul makes it four, and assuming that all 47 Democrats and their independent allies go against Trump, that would give opponents 51 votes — just past the majority needed.

Congress is unlikely to have the votes to override a veto.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Paul said at a Republican dinner Saturday night at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

"We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing."

Many lawmakers opposed to the emergency declaration say it tramples on the constitutional power of Congress to control spending and would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to make such a declaration for their own purposes. They are also concerned Trump would siphon money from home-state projects to barrier construction.

Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. He's invoking other powers to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction. </s> The Republican-controlled Senate approved a resolution to terminate President Trump's national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting Congress on a path to its first veto confrontation with the Trump administration.

Shortly after the vote, President Trump tweeted, "VETO!" Neither chamber mustered the two-thirds support required to override a presidential veto.

The president also tweeted that he looked forward to vetoing the measure, which he called "Democrat inspired."

But in Thursday's vote to block the president's emergency declaration, 12 Republicans voted with all Senate Democrats to pass the resolution. The Democratic-controlled House approved it last month, 245-182, with just 13 House Republicans breaking with the White House.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Feb. 25 saying he would vote for the resolution blocking the president's actions to go around Congress to build a border wall, but reversed himself and opposed it on Thursday.

At stake is nearly $6 billion in federal funds that President Trump redirected in a Feb. 15 emergency declaration. The White House is seeking to take that money from accounts at the Treasury and Defense departments to build physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president made the order after Congress agreed on a bipartisan basis to provide $1.375 billion in wall funds for this fiscal year, but Trump said it wasn't enough.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., initially counseled the president against invoking the national emergency out of concerns it would divide Senate Republicans and test the separation of powers, but he voted with the president on Thursday and defended his actions as lawful.

"He has simply operated within existing law, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds," McConnell said. "If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it."

Democrats broadly oppose the wall, but have argued the resolution bends the intent of the law and the constitutional authority of Congress. "We've never had a president like this. We've had lots of presidents with lots of foibles but none of them seem to equate their own ego with the entire functioning of the government of the United States except this one. We can't succumb to that," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Trump said Thursday his declaration would withstand expected court challenges. "The legal scholars all say it's totally constitutional. It's very important. It's really a border security vote," he said.

Many Senate Republicans aren't as sure. "Never before has a president asked for funding, Congress has not provided it, and the president then has used the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to spend the money anyway," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said congressional authority to appropriate federal tax dollars is a "crucial source of our freedom."

"This declaration is a dangerous precedent," he added.

Other Republicans tried and failed to cut a deal with the White House to help defeat the resolution. There was a last-ditch effort to get Trump to agree to back legislation by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to limit presidential authority to declare national emergencies going forward, but Trump told Lee he wouldn't support it, and Democrats said they'd block it anyway. "We tried to cut a deal, the president didn't appear interested," Lee told reporters on Wednesday. He ultimately supported the resolution.

The resolution is the second Senate rebuke of the Trump administration this week. On Wednesday, senators approved a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is another rejection of Trump administration policy.

The rebukes are a reflection of the new divided government in Washington, with House Democrats planning on a more confrontational approach to a president than congressional Republicans, who worked hard to accommodate the president's agenda during his first two years in office.



President Trump tweeted a single word this afternoon - veto, exclamation point. He was responding to a congressional vote terminating his national emergency declaration to build a wall. In the Senate, a dozen Republicans broke with the White House to side with Democrats. The democratically-controlled House had already voted against the emergency declaration. The president has been consistent all along about how he would respond. This is what he said earlier today before the Senate vote.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. I don't know what the vote will be. It doesn't matter. I'll probably have to veto.

SHAPIRO: And this would be the first veto of the Trump presidency. NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis joins us now. Hi, Sue.

SHAPIRO: The outcome of this vote was not in doubt because Democrats had enough support from Republicans to pass it. But how surprising is it that 12 Republicans broke with the White House?

DAVIS: You know, when you think about how reluctant Republicans generally are to break with President Trump, especially on an issue like the wall, it does speak to how deep the concern is in Congress that there's something much bigger at stake here. Those 12 Republicans who sided with Democrats - they all support the wall. The question is about whether President Trump is operating within the bounds of the Constitution, not with the national emergency declaration itself. The law is pretty unambiguous that he has the authority to declare national emergencies, but it's in the question of using that authority to then redirect this money that Congress has already decided to be spent elsewhere. So what Congress is saying is that they are trying to overturn the president's February 15th order, which aims to redirect about $6 billion to build a wall.

SHAPIRO: Assuming that the president follows through on his promise to veto this, there are not enough votes to overturn his veto, override it. So where does it go from here?

DAVIS: So 16 states have already filed legal challenges to the president's declaration, so that has to play out. Democrats on Capitol Hill also say they intend to fight it in the courts. The vote by Congress, while it doesn't have the votes to override, could play a factor in these legal challenges 'cause it will send a message to the courts about what the legislative branch's position is here. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - before this, he had privately urged the president not to go down this path, although ultimately, today he voted with the White House. But when he was speaking on the floor today, he made the point that if Congress doesn't like the way the president's using these powers, they should do something about it. This is what he said.

MITCH MCCONNELL: He has simply operated within existing law - the National Emergencies Act of 1976 - to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds. If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it.

DAVIS: The catch here, Ari? A lot of Republicans actually did try to do that. There was a last-minute effort this week among some Senate Republicans to say to the White House, we'll vote down the resolution if the president will say he will support legislation to limit future presidential authority to declare national emergencies. And President Trump told Republicans he could not commit to supporting that.

SHAPIRO: And what's really amazing, Sue, is this is the second vote this week where the Republican-controlled Senate rejected Trump administration positions. There was also a vote on ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which the administration supports. Is this a sea change? I mean, are we living in a different era now?

DAVIS: It is certainly a different chapter. You know, for his first two years in office, President Trump had Republicans in control of the House and Senate. They worked very hard to accommodate the president, move his legislative agenda. I think on, you know, a singular basis, lawmakers still overwhelmingly support President Trump. But as the next two years unfold, he's got a loyal opposition in the House. And he does have a not-insignificant number of Republican senators who, at turns, are uneasy about his foreign policy, his trade policy and, as we saw today, his possible executive overreach.

DAVIS: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. </s> The Republican-controlled Senate approved a resolution to terminate President Trump’s national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting Congress on a path to its first veto confrontation with the Trump administration.

Shortly after the vote, President Trump tweeted, “VETO!” Neither chamber mustered the two-thirds support required to override a presidential veto.

The president also tweeted that he looked forward to vetoing the measure, which he called “Democrat inspired.”

But in Thursday’s vote to block the president’s emergency declaration, 12 Republicans voted with all Senate Democrats to pass the resolution. The Democratic-controlled House approved it last month, 245-182, with just 13 House Republicans breaking with the White House.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis penned an opinion piece in the Washington Poston Feb. 25 saying he would vote for the resolution blocking the president’s actions to go around Congress to build a border wall, but reversed himself and opposed it on Thursday.

At stake is nearly $6 billion in federal funds that President Trump redirected in a Feb. 15 emergency declaration. The White House is seeking to take that money from accounts at the Treasury and Defense departments to build physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president made the order after Congress agreed on a bipartisan basis to provide $1.375 billion in wall funds for this fiscal year, but Trump said it wasn’t enough.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., initially counseled the president against invoking the national emergency out of concerns it would divide Senate Republicans and test the separation of powers, but he voted with the president on Thursday and defended his actions as lawful.

“He has simply operated within existing law, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, to invoke a narrow set of authorities to reprogram a narrow set of funds,” McConnell said. “If Congress has grown uneasy with this new law, as many have, then we should amend it.”

Democrats broadly oppose the wall, but have argued the resolution bends the intent of the law and the constitutional authority of Congress. “We’ve never had a president like this. We’ve had lots of presidents with lots of foibles but none of them seem to equate their own ego with the entire functioning of the government of the United States except this one. We can’t succumb to that,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Trump said Thursday his declaration would withstand expected court challenges. “The legal scholars all say it’s totally constitutional. It’s very important. It’s really a border security vote,” he said.

Other Republicans tried and failed to cut a deal with the White House to help defeat the resolution. There was a last-ditch effort to get Trump to agree to back legislation by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to limit presidential authority to declare national emergencies going forward, but Trump told Lee he wouldn’t support it, and Democrats said they’d block it anyway. “We tried to cut a deal, the president didn’t appear interested,” Lee told reporters on Wednesday. He ultimately supported the resolution.

The resolution is the second Senate rebuke of the Trump administration this week. On Wednesday, senators approved a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is another rejection of Trump administration policy.

The rebukes are a reflection of the new divided government in Washington, with House Democrats planning on a more confrontational approach to a president than congressional Republicans, who worked hard to accommodate the president’s agenda during his first two years in office. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is likely to sign a veto of the congressional measure to end his emergency declaration to get funds to build a border wall around 3:00 p.m. on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The veto would be the first of Trump’s presidency. On Thursday, Democrats and Republicans rebuked Trump over his decision to circumvent Congress and take money already designated for other programs to pay for his barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump has said he wants a wall to prevent immigrants from crossing into the United States, describing the situation as a national emergency. Democrats deny there is an emergency at the border, saying border crossings are at a four-decade low.

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to end his border emergency declaration, with 12 of Trump’s fellow Republicans joining Democrats. The numbers did not make it to the level required to override a veto, meaning Trump would secure his plans despite congressional disapproval.

The president made a border wall a central promise of his 2016 campaign for the White House. He initially insisted that Mexico would pay for the wall but it has declined to do so. Last year, Trump forced a government shutdown over an impasse with Congress over funding for the barrier.

When a deal to prevent another shutdown did not give him the funding he requested, Trump declared a national emergency, redirecting funds that were allocated for other projects to build the barrier instead. </s> U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has indicated he'll vote in favor of a resolution seeking to block President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, giving Senate opponents enough votes to send the resolution to Trump's desk.

During a speech Saturday night in Bowling Green, Paul, R-Ky., said he "can’t vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president," according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” Paul said, as reported by the Bowling Green Daily News. “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.”

A spokesperson for Paul could not be immediately reached Sunday afternoon.

Read this: Mitch McConnell is in a 'perpetual bind' thanks to Trump, Yarmuth says

Trump declared an emergency in February after Congress sent him a bipartisan funding bill that didn't include his $5.7 billion demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In declaring an emergency, the president is able to free up billions from other sources to pay for the barrier, which he claims is necessary to reduce the flow of drugs and gang members into the country.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 245-182 in support of the resolution blocking Trump's declaration. Thirteen Republicans joined all Democrats in backing the measure.

Paul joins Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who have all said they'll vote against the national emergency declaration.

The resolution needs 51 votes to pass.

Assuming all the Senate's 47 Democrats and their independent allies vote against Trump, opponents would have the votes needed.

However, Trump is expected to veto the resolution, which would mark the first veto of his presidency.

This story may be updated.

Associated Press and USA TODAY contributed reporting. Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and border security (all times local):

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump's use of emergency powers is unprecedented and can't be used to build a border wall.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the declaration is 'patently illegal.' Their legal action would be separate from anything Congress may do.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also raised the possibility of legal action. They say Trump's decision would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects.

President Donald Trump has signed legislation to avert another government shutdown and pay for limited fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump signed the bill at the White House on Friday.

The legislation gives Trump 55 additional miles of border fencing, well short of the 200-plus miles he wanted.

The legislation also keeps parts of the government from shutting down at midnight Friday by providing $333 billion to finance several Cabinet agencies through September.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency at the southern border and is using his executive authority to tap billions of other government funds to build the wall.

Congress' two top Democrats say they'll use "every remedy available" to oppose President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency to shift billions of federal dollars into building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday they'll take action "in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public."

They say Trump's decision to declare an emergency is unlawful. They say it would "shred the Constitution" by usurping Congress' power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. Pelosi and Schumer say Trump would be using money needed "for the security of our military and our nation."

Democrats can file lawsuits and force congressional votes to block Trump's money transfers. Trump could veto the legislation should it pass.

President Donald Trump says he expects legal challenges to his decision to declare a national emergency to erect barriers between the U.S. and Mexico but says he'll be vindicated.

Trump announced Friday that he has signed the appropriate paperwork to declare an emergency on the border so he can build a wall.

In a sing-songy tone of voice, Trump then described how the decision will be challenged and work its way through the courts, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Critics have accused Trump of abusing his authority.

Trump says he shouldn't be sued but predicts "we will be very successful in court."

He adds: "Sadly, we'll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we'll win."

President Donald Trump says he needs to use emergency powers to protect the United States from drug dealers and immigrants in the nation illegally.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo of Trump signing the declaration Friday in the moments before his scattershot Rose Garden news conference.

Trump told stories of horrific abuse of women being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border but didn't provide any evidence. He also said the border wall would be needed to battle drug cartels as part of a "virtual invasion" from Mexico.

The president declared a national emergency and would find other funds for the wall after expressing unhappiness about a congressional border security deal.

Families of people killed by immigrants in the United States illegally attended the news conference.

Trump's plans have been criticized on Capitol Hill.

President Donald Trump says many other presidents have declared national emergencies. But the presidents he has cited did not use emergency powers to pay for projects that Congress wouldn't support.

Emergency declarations by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were overwhelmingly for the purpose of addressing crises that emerged abroad. Many blocked foreign interests or terrorist-linked entities from access to funds. Some prohibited certain imports from or investments to countries associated with human rights abuses.

A list compiled by the Brennan Center says Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, Bush 13 and Obama 12.

Trump said Friday he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for border barriers than he had sought. Trump plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The move has drawn criticism on Capitol Hill and is expected to face rounds of legal challenges.

President Donald Trump says he'll be declaring a national emergency so he can build a southern border wall.

Trump did not say on Friday when he would make such a declaration, but the move will allow him to bypass Congress to spend more money to erect barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Congress has given Trump about $1.4 billion for border barriers, well below the $5.7 billion Trump has insisted he needed to build a wall.

To get around Congress, Trump plans to use his executive authority to tap other sources of funding to get a total of $8 billion to build the wall. The White House says Trump plans to tap accounts in the Treasury and Defense departments, but not money earmarked for disaster relief.

Trump's move is expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Add the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the groups opposing a national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump to free up budget funds to build his Southwest border wall.

The business organization's stance is not a total surprise. It's opposed Trump administration efforts to restrict legal immigration and to make it harder for young "Dreamer" immigrants to stay in the U.S.

Still, the chamber usually leans Republican. Its opposition Friday is the latest example of how word of an emergency declaration is splitting the GOP and its constituencies.

Trump plans to sign bipartisan legislation providing nearly $1.4 billion to build border barriers, but that fell short of the $5.7 billion he wanted.

Trump is expected to invoke executive powers to access another $6.6 billion. He says he'll sign a national emergency. That's expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

President Donald Trump plans to spend about $8 billion on border barriers, far more than Congress has given him for that purpose.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says Trump will tap various other sources of money beyond the nearly $1.4 billion in a government funding bill that Congress passed. Trump is expected to sign the bill.

Besides the money from Congress, Mulvaney said Friday that Trump plans to spend $600 million in Treasury forfeiture funds and $2.5 billion in Defense Department counterdrug money. Trump is also tapping about $3.6 billion worth of funds set aside for military construction projects.

Mulvaney says Trump is not tapping disaster relief money designated to help Texas and Puerto Rico following recent devastating hurricanes.

Trump's moves are expected to prompt lawsuits and challenges in Congress.

Congress has lopsidedly approved a border security compromise that would avert a second painful government shutdown.

But a new confrontation has been ignited. President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary is certain to be challenged.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation passed Thursday but act unilaterally to get more. That prompted condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority. </s> The move would block an extra $3.6 billion for building the border wall

President Donald Trump listens during a briefing on drug trafficking at the southern border in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Republican-led Senate is set to deal President Donald Trump a rebuke on his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, with the only remaining question how many GOP senators will join Democrats in defying him.

Republicans are predicting that Thursday’s showdown vote will result in Congress sending Trump a resolution blocking the border emergency he proclaimed last month to steer an extra $3.6 billion to building border barriers.

Since the Democratic-controlled House approved the measure last month, the Senate vote would force Trump to use a veto to protect his presidential campaign’s “Build the Wall” mantra over objections from his own party.

“It was called turn out the lights, the party’s over,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., recalling a favourite refrain of “Monday Night Football” announcers when a game was out of reach. “Well, that’s appropriate right now.”

Trump tweeted early Thursday about “the big National Emergency vote today” in the Senate, saying, “I am prepared to veto, if necessary,” and called the situation at the border “a National Security and Humanitarian Nightmare.”

Senate passage of the resolution was all but ordained Wednesday after the collapse of efforts by the White House and GOP senators to reach compromise on separate legislation by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, limiting presidents’ powers to declare emergencies in the future.

Republican lawmakers had hoped a deal on that measure would have helped more of them to back Trump’s border emergency in Thursday’s vote. Instead, several Republicans are being boxed into a thorny dilemma: defy Trump and the conservative voters who back him passionately, or assent to what many lawmakers from both parties consider a dubious and dangerous expansion of presidential authority.

With Republicans controlling the Senate 53-47, just four GOP defections would be enough to approve the resolution cancelling Trump’s border emergency.

Lee became the fifth Republican to say they’d back the resolution after Trump called him during a private lunch of GOP senators to say he opposed Lee’s compromise bill. The call was described by two officials who weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and described it on condition of anonymity.

Soon afterward, Lee issued a statement saying he’d support the resolution blocking the border emergency.

“Congress has been giving far too much legislative power to the executive branch,” Lee said. He said he’d vote to block Trump’s emergency because his own bill “does not have an immediate path forward.”

The other GOP senators who have said they will vote to block Trump’s border emergency are Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Kentucky’s Rand Paul.

Tillis and Collins face potentially competitive re-election fights in 2020. Tillis said Wednesday that his vote was “still a work in progress” as talks with the White House continued. But perhaps 15 GOP senators might oppose Trump in Thursday’s vote, said one Republican who offered the estimate only on condition of anonymity.

Within the White House there was concern that agreeing to a deal might only limit the number of defections, said a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Any Republican hopes of a turnabout rested largely on a familiar phenomenon of the Trump administration — an abrupt change in mind, as he’s done in congressional battles over health care and immigration.

Trump told reporters that he has advised GOP senators to “vote any way you want” on the resolution blocking his emergency declaration — but he added a warning.

“Anybody going against border security, drug trafficking, human trafficking, that’s a bad vote,” he said. Framing Thursday’s vote that way seemed to be a message all but aimed directly at undecided GOP senators facing re-election races next year, of whom there are several.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tried making it even harder for uncertain Republicans to support Trump’s border emergency. She said the House would never even consider the separate bill limiting future declarations by presidents, including Trump.

“Republican Senators are proposing new legislation to allow the president to violate the Constitution just this once in order to give themselves cover,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass.”

Under a four-decade-old law, presidents have wide leeway in declaring a national emergency. Congress can vote to block a declaration, but the two-thirds majorities required to overcome presidential vetoes make it hard for lawmakers to prevail. Presidents have never before declared an emergency after Congress voted to deny them money for the same purpose.

Lee’s proposal says a presidential emergency would last 30 days unless Congress votes to extend it. It would apply to future emergencies, but not Trump’s current border emergency unless he seeks to renew it next year.

The strongest chance of blocking Trump’s border emergency is likely several lawsuits filed by Democratic state attorneys general, environmental groups and others.

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

Alan Fram And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> U.S. President Donald Trump has issued the first veto of his presidency, overriding a congressional measure and protecting his national security declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it," Trump said Friday in the Oval Office.

Surrounded by law enforcement officials as well as parents of children killed by people who were illegally in the United States, Trump called the congressional action "dangerous" and "reckless."

On Thursday, Congress formally rejected Trump's national emergency declaration to fund border wall construction, as the Senate voted 59 to 41 to disapprove the executive action.

A dozen Republicans joined with Senate Democrats to back the resolution.

The House had passed the measure weeks earlier, largely along party lines.

Trump's veto sends the issue back to Congress, where it is unlikely that there will be enough support to override the veto. Two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate are needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Earlier this year, a politically divided Congress provided limited funds to erect new fencing along small sections of the U.S.-Mexico border, an outlay Trump deemed inadequate.

The president then declared a national emergency, allowing him to redirect federal funds for the wall, which the White House said would come from mostly military accounts.

The president has argued the situation at the border is a crisis that warrants such an emergency declaration, and has said the United States is facing an invasion of people trying to enter the country illegally.

Democrats have largely opposed building a wall on the southern border.

Republicans who voted against Trump's national security declaration said that while they supported increasing security on the southern border, they did not support Trump's attempt to bypass Congress.

Congress has not funded Trump's border wall requests during the more than two years he has been in office, including during the first two years when Republicans were in control of both houses of Congress.
The U.S. Senate votes 59–41 to cancel President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund the wall along the Mexico–United States border. Trump plans to veto the decision.