March 14, 2019

Duckworth Statement on Vote to Terminate Donald Trump’s National Emergency Declaration

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — Following a Senate vote to terminate Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to raid military construction funds to build an ineffective border wall that he promised Mexico would pay for, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s declaration was a reckless and unprecedented abuse of presidential power, not to mention a monumental waste of billions of taxpayer dollars on a vanity project that he promised Mexico would pay for. It would also hurt military readiness and undermine our ability to respond to real national security threats by stealing funding that Congress appropriated for critical national defense projects, military bases, barracks and training facilities. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to ask Generals and Admirals about the threats our nation is facing and not a single one identified the situation at the border as a national emergency. I am glad the majority of my colleagues were willing to reject this kind of executive overreach by voting to overturn this terrible policy.”

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