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"[Trump's] move left Senate Republicans sharply divided, and it remains to be seen whether they will act collectively to try to stop Trump" #SundayMorning #SundayThoughts nytimes.com/2019/02/16/us/…
2-"..The Republican resistance to Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration was much more pronounced in the Senate than in the House, where a few Republicans — in the minority but more closely aligned to Mr. Trump — groused. But most of the conservative rank and file embraced it.
3-"After threatening to kill the spending compromise needed to keep the government open, Mr. Trump opted to cite a national emergency to pry loose additional funding to build a wall longer than the 55 miles in the bipartisan agreement. It was the divisive step that Senator Mitch
4-" McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, Ms. Capito and most other Republicans in the Senate had forcefully urged him not to take, because it would establish a precedent they feared future Democratic presidents would use against them.
5-"The decision left Mr. McConnell, a professed guardian of the Senate’s prerogatives and power, joining with Mr. Trump in supporting an executive branch end run greater than any of the incursions into the legislative process he often accused President Obama of pursuing.
6-"Fellow senators said Mr. McConnell, a former member of the Appropriations Committee, was unhappy with the declaration but saw it as the only way to pass the spending bill. Some top Republicans, led by Mr. McConnell, pivoted quickly to say they supported the president’s action
7-"because it was the only option left to him after Congress failed to meet his demands for wall funding. Mr. McConnell has even begun offering the president strategic advice on how best to push his plan, aides said. But Mr. McConnell is also warning Mr. Trump of the damage it
8-"could inflict on the party heading into the 2020 elections. Other Republicans portrayed it as a gross violation of the constitutional separation of powers, a blatant disregard by the president for Congress’s fundamental role in determining how federal dollars are spent.
9-"..Several other Senate Republicans publicly and privately joined Ms. Collins in describing the move as a flagrant breach of congressional jurisdiction and a dangerous precedent. Their numbers raised the clear possibility that enough Republican defectors could join with Sen
10-"Democrats to provide a majority to disapprove of the president’s decision should the opportunity arise. Four Republicans might be enough to join with Senate Democrats and pass legislation rebuking the president, and leadership aides put the number of potential defectors as
11-"high as 10. But the unrest seemed well short of the sort of partywide revolt necessary to override a veto by Mr. Trump of any legislative attempt to prevent his declaration of an emergency, leaving a legal challenge as the only recourse.
12-"“I would not vote for disapproval,” said Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama and the Appropriations Committee chairman who led the spending negotiations. “He’s got the power to defend the country, to defend the borders, to protect the people as commander in chief
13-"I believe the courts would uphold him on this.” Despite reservations about many of the actions taken by Mr. Trump and the White House over the past two years, most congressional Republicans have been reluctant to put too much distance between themselves and the president
14-"given his grip on Republican voters, many of whom consider the wall a national necessity. Mr. Trump exerts a powerful hold on his party, and lawmakers are cowed by the belief that opposing him will end in their political destruction.
15-"Still, the emergency declaration was a direct assault on the ability of lawmakers themselves to restrain the president, and it raised expectations that more could balk at what was widely viewed as a serious case of executive overreach.
16-"“Somebody is going to have to say enough is enough,” said Trent Lott, the former Senate leader from Mississippi, who questioned the wisdom of the move...Democrats were united in their condemnation, accusing Mr. Trump of claiming a false crisis because he could not win over
17-"Congress with his argument. They said the president was so desperate to build the wall as a difficult re-election campaign loomed that he was willing to shred the Constitution to do so...Party strategists said a veto could even bolster Mr. Trump by showing his backers that
18-"he was willing to take on Congress over his wall and that it was unlikely there would be enough votes to override it. The divide, though, could become a political problem for embattled Republican incumbents up for re-election next year, like Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado,
19-"who will face competing calls back home to break with the president or stick with him...“It is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution because, after the American Revolution against a king, our founders chose not to create a chief executive with the power to tax the people
20-"and spend their money any way he chooses,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. “This is a fundamental constitutional responsibility of Congress,” said Ms. Collins. “We should be opposing this strongly.”...There is a small chance that Mr. Trump will accept a
21-"list of existing programs, compiled by Mr. Alexander, that Republicans believe could be used for wall money, rendering the emergency declaration moot. But nobody is holding out much hope that will happen." ~Excerpts from NYT, 2/17/19
