Trump vows veto as Dems try to block border action

WASHINGTON -- Democrats controlling the House have teed up a vote next week to block President Donald Trump from using a national emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a showdown in Congress potentially dividing Republicans and leading to Trump's first veto.

The Democrats introduced a resolution Friday to block Trump's declaration, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote on the measure Tuesday. It is sure to pass, and the GOP-run Senate may adopt it as well. Trump quickly promised a veto.

"Will I veto it? 100 percent," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Any Trump veto would likely be sustained, but the upcoming battle will test Republican support for the president's move, which even some of his allies view as a stretch -- and a slap at lawmakers' control over the power of the federal purse.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said she'd honor her oath of office and uphold the Constitution, adding, "I wish he would have the same dedication to that oath of office himself." Speaking to reporters in Laredo, Texas, she said, "This is a path I would not recommend he go down. I don't expect him to sign it, but I do expect us to send it" to him.

House GOP leaders will urge rank-and-file Republicans on Monday to oppose the measure, Republican aides said. If all Democrats and at least 55 Republicans vote for it, it would pass by a veto-proof margin -- a two-thirds majority. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to describe leaders' plans.

A staff aide introduced the measure during a short pro forma House session.

"What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab," said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, the sponsor of the resolution, on a call with reporters. "There is no emergency at the border."

Trump's declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. But the administration is more likely to tap funding from a federal asset forfeiture fund and Defense Department anti-drug efforts first.

Trump's edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those filing suit to overturn Trump's order. The House may also join in.

For Democrats, the vote is another chance to challenge Trump over funding for a border wall, the issue central to the 35-day government shutdown. It also puts some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot, as many have expressed misgivings about Trump's action despite their support for his border security agenda.

Should the House and the Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber needed later to override a Trump veto.

Republicans who oppose the emergency declaration on the first vote might switch and rally behind a Trump veto. But an initial roll call with strong numbers of Republicans defying him would be an embarrassing show of GOP rifts.

The measure to block Trump's edict will be closely watched in the Senate, where moderates such as Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have signaled they would back it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is only a reluctant supporter of Trump on the topic.

Trump's GOP allies promised they would uphold any veto denying Democrats the two-thirds votes required to overcome one.