House Fails to Override Trump Veto on Border Wall

TEHRAN (defapress)- The House failed Tuesday to override the first veto of President Donald Trump's tenure, a vote led by Democrats seeking to uphold a measure unwinding the president's national emergency declaration at the Southern border.

News ID: 76443

Date: 27 March 2019 - 14:41

The chamber voted 248-181 to override the veto, falling short of the roughly 290 votes, or two-thirds majority, needed, The Hill reported.

Trump issued the veto earlier this month to push back on a rebuke from Congress over his bid to reallocate Pentagon funding to build a barrier along the US-Mexico border.

The vast majority of Republicans in the lower chamber stood with Trump on Tuesday over the veto. But 14 GOP lawmakers opted to break party lines and rebuke the president's emergency declaration for a second time.

Following the vote, Trump took to social media to praise GOP lawmakers for standing with the administration on the issue.

"Thank you to the House Republicans for sticking together and the BIG WIN today on the Border. Today’s vote simply reaffirms Congressional Democrats are the party of Open Borders, Drugs and Crime!" he tweeted.

Democrats have been vocal in their disapproval of Trump’s declaration that he issued in mid-February, blasting it as an abuse of power for a partisan priority.

The lower chamber voted to overturn Trump's emergency declaration in late February, with 13 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the joint resolution. The Senate followed suit in March, with 12 GOP senators bucking party lines to vote against Trump's declaration.

Trump issued the veto shortly after the disapproval resolution passed the Senate this month. The president said it would be “reckless” to allow the resolution to take effect, arguing there is a crisis at the US-Mexico border that needs to be addressed.

“Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution, and I have the duty to veto it,” Trump said during a ceremony in the Oval Office earlier this month.

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