In three bipartisan votes, Congress this week rebuked President Trump over Saudi Arabia, blocked his border emergency declaration and demanded a public release of the special counsel’s report.
WASHINGTON — Time and again — when President Trump stood by Saudi Arabia after the killing of a Virginia-based journalist, when it looked as if he might intervene in the special counsel’s Russia investigation and when he threatened to declare a national emergency to pay for his border wall — lawmakers on Capitol Hill warned him not to push them too far.
This week, in a remarkable series of bipartisan rebukes to the president, Congress pushed back.
On Wednesday, with seven Republicans breaking ranks, the Senate joined the Democrat-led House in voting to end American military aid to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen in protest over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post. On Thursday morning, the House voted unanimously on a nonbinding resolution to make public the findings of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.
And on Thursday afternoon, 12 Republican senators abandoned the president to pass legislation, already adopted by the House, that would block Mr. Trump from declaring a national emergency to build his border wall — an act of defiance that he has vowed to overturn with the first veto of his presidency.
“We’re saying today, ‘No, we do not acquiesce to this,’” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said after voting to block the emergency declaration. “We do not agree that the president should be able to come in and go against the express intention of the Congress when it comes to these appropriated funds” for his wall.
The series of votes vividly demonstrated a newfound willingness to stand up to the president among some of his Republican allies on Capitol Hill. And they underscored a deep frustration in Congress about the president’s supposed scorn for a coequal branch of government.
“We have an issue that has been litigated and adjudicated through Congress. I mean, what was more litigated than this very question? We had a government shutdown for crying out loud,” said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, referring to funding for the border wall, which Mr. Trump is trying to secure with an emergency declaration that would circumvent Congress.
“It’s about separation of powers,” Mr. Toomey said. “It’s about respecting the principles of the Constitution.”
For some Republicans, particularly those who have typically voted in lock step with the president, the votes were a moment of soul searching during a harried week before recess, when most lawmakers were looking forward to getting out of town.
