Termination of National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, President Trump's declaration of a national emergency, as an excuse to build a wall that Congress explicitly rejected, is an abuse of his constitutional oath, and cannot be tolerated by a coequal branch of government under the Constitution. We must reject this unlawful power grab and reassert Congress' authority to exercise the power of the purse.

The Constitution could not be clearer: ``No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.'' That command reflects a fundamental principle that is older than our democracy itself: The chief executive cannot unilaterally spend taxpayers' money or redirect a budget set by the people's representatives.

Earlier this year, Congress reached a bipartisan compromise to fund the government, and it was signed by the President. Congress allocated limited funding for fencing in certain areas, but squarely rejected the President's request to build a medieval barrier across the southern border.

Almost immediately, the President decided to rewrite the budget set by Congress, and he told us exactly why. He was not satisfied with what he got from the process that the Constitution dictates, so he did an end run and made it an emergency.

He and his aides have barely even tried to pretend that the so-called emergency is a real one. They know that illegal immigration is at historically low levels. They know that children and families fleeing violence are coming here to make lawful asylum claims, not as some kind of invading army.

They know that illegal drugs overwhelmingly get smuggled through ports of entry, and that a wall would do nothing to change that. But they refuse to let the facts and the law stand in the way of their political agenda.

Even worse, the emergency law that President Trump invoked allows the military to redirect funds only if an emergency ``requires the use of the armed forces.'' And those funds can be used only for construction projects that are ``necessary to support such use of the armed forces.''

But a wall cannot possibly be ``necessary to support'' a military operation on the border because our laws prohibit the military from engaging in law enforcement activities. The military cannot enforce an immigration law, so the President's actions are doubly unlawful. There is no real emergency; and even if there were, the President could not redirect military funds for a purpose expressly prohibited to the military.

Fortunately, the Constitution does not get suspended based on President Trump's preferences about what is convenient or ``faster.'' Our Nation's Founders left it up to all of us, including those of us in Congress, to act as guardians against exactly this type of assault on our constitutional order.

In that spirit, I proudly support this joint resolution, and I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up and do the same.

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