The U. S. House of Representatives on Tuesday failed to override President Donald Trump
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U. S. House of Representatives on Tuesday failed to override President Donald Trump’s first veto, leaving in place the “national emergency” he declared last month to build a U. S.-Mexico border wall that Congress has not funded.
Democrats who control the House did not attract enough Republican support, falling some three dozen votes short of the two-thirds majority vote needed to overturn Trump’s veto. Just 14 Republicans joined 234 Democrats in voting to override, one more Republican than had bucked Trump in a previous House vote on the border wall emergency. One Democrat and two Republicans did not vote.
With the 248-181 tally, Trump is now likely to continue scouring federal accounts for money he wants redirected to building a border wall, which he says is needed to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro, author of the resolution to overturn Trump’s move, said lawmakers would keep trying to block him through the regular congressional process of appropriating funds, as well as reviewing his emergency declaration again six months from now.
The battle over Trump’s emergency declaration also shifts to the courts, with various legal challenges already underway that could slow Trump’s building plans for some time. A coalition of 16 states sued in federal court in February to stop Trump’s border wall emergency; another four states joined the lawsuit this month.
“Thank you to the House Republicans for sticking together and the BIG WIN today on the Border,” Trump wrote on Twitter after the House vote.
