Senate Votes to Block Trump's Border Emergency Declaration

On Thursday, the Senate voted to overturn President Donald Trump's declaration of national emergency for the southwestern border.

Trump is still determined to build his border wall between the US and Mexico. However, the House passed a 59-41 vote to veto his plans. Senator Lamar Alexander explained:

“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.”

He added that the problem with Trump's request for funding is that Congress has the power to "approve all spending so that the president would not have so much power."

Be that as it may, Trump had a hard time to even convince Republicans why he needed $3.6 billion from military construction projects funneled to the border wall.

Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran said "the use of emergency powers in this circumstance violates the constitution," and added:

“This continues our country down the path of an all-powerful executive — something those who wrote the Constitution were fearful of.”

This follows after more than 40 percent of American troops were already deployed to the southwest border. There are currently around 6,000 guards on duty.