OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Introduction of A Joint Resolution Relating to A National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 22, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Executive Branch

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, to be clear, my introduction of this resolution of disapproval should in no way be interpreted as an indication that the President's declaration of an emergency, or his invocation of specific statutory powers pursuant to that declaration, is even lawful in the first place.

The Constitution provides Congress with the power of the purse and expressly prohibits the President from spending funds that Congress has not appropriated. Here, Congress has not authorized or appropriated funding to build a wall on the southern border. Indeed, Congress has repeatedly chosen not to do so in response to the President's multiple requests for such funding since becoming President.

While my resolution disapproves and terminates the President's emergency declaration, the record should be clear that I do not believe the President's declaration, or his invocation of specific statutory powers pursuant to that declaration, was lawful to begin with.

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