Paul Indicates He’ll Vote Against Trump’s Emergency, Forcing President’s First Veto

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 12: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., stands as President Donald Trump arrives to sign an executive order on health care in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, Oct. 12, ... WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 12: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., stands as President Donald Trump arrives to sign an executive order on health care in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Sen. Rand Paul indicated Saturday night that he would join three other Republican senators in voting against President Donald Trump’s declaration of emergency to secure more funds for a border wall, likely forcing Trump to use his veto power for the first time if he wants the emergency declaration to stay in place.

“I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” Paul said at the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday, as quoted by the Bowling Green Daily News.

“We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.”

Paul’s vote against Trump’s declaration — combined with Democratic senators’ votes and the votes of Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who’ve also said they’ll vote to defy the President — would constitute a 51-vote majority, and means the President will be forced to veto Congress’ move to reverse his declaration.

Trump has said he will veto the resolution, should it arrive on his desk. The House of Representatives, with 232 Democrats and 13 Republicans in favor, voted to advance a resolution against Trump’s emergency declaration on Tuesday. The Senate has yet to vote on the measure.

H/t Politico

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  1. Not a surprise, really, there’s no other way Paul could vote and keep to his stated principles…and, much as I think he’s a total loser, he does believe in them and stick to them (for the most part). The rest of the Republicans should be voting with him, if they followed their stated principles…since they have instead granted their fealty to their new master Trump they will mostly go along with him instead. Sad.

  2. Paul’s been drinking the Democratic Kool-Aid.

  3. From WaPo which means the party has a short memory.

    Acquiescence to Trump is now the defining trait of the Republican Party more than two years into his presidency — overwhelming and at times erasing principles that conservatives viewed as the foundation of the party for more than a half century.

    Trump’s ownership of the GOP was on vivid display again Saturday, when the president appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, an annual gathering that has transformed into a raucous celebration of Trump, featuring propaganda-style art and a speaker who declared that the president was “chosen by God.”

  4. I bet Trump regrets bragging about how the Senate > House.

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