WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after the U.S. Senate voted 59-41 to block President Trump’s controversial national emergency declaration, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“This was a stern rebuke of President Trump’s short-sighted power grab.  Today, a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in standing up to President Trump and standing up for our Constitutional principles.  Regardless of what side of the wall issue you come down on, what the Trump Administration is attempting here is fundamentally wrong and a gross abuse of presidential power. 

“Never before in American history has a president declared a national emergency to circumvent Congress for a construction project that he previously failed to get the votes to fund.  Diverting funds from our troops and military projects to fulfill the President’s ineffective wall strategy is wrong and it should have been overwhelmingly rejected.

“The American people see through President Trump’s guise of an emergency.  The courts should reject this attempted overreach by the Trump Administration.  And Congress should uphold its duty and constitutional authority to appropriate funds. 

“It is in America’s national interest to maintain checks, balances, and barriers to prevent presidents from seizing this kind of power.  If President Trump tears them down to build his wall, he could do serious, lasting damage that makes all Americans less secure in the long run.”