House votes to terminate Trump’s emergency border declaration, setting up expected veto

The House passed a resolution to end President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border by a vote of 236-174 on Friday.

Eleven Republicans joined with Democrats to vote for the measure and against the declaration, as did the chamber's lone independent, former Republican Justin Amash of Michigan.

The Senate voted Wednesday to end the emergency declaration. In that vote, 11 Senate Republicans also joined Democrats in the final 54-41 vote. The Senate also voted to end the emergency declaration in March, but that effort failed to overcome the president's veto. At that time, 12 Republicans voted against the declaration. That dozen included Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) who didn't vote Wednesday.

President Trump's national emergency declaration, which he issued in February at the conclusion of a government shutdown, has allowed the administration to redirect Pentagon funds in order to construct physical security along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Supreme Court undid a lower court injunction blocking the administration from doing so in July.

That redirection of funds, however, has come under fire from Democrats in recent weeks after the Pentagon announced that $3.6 billion would be diverted from various Pentagon construction projects and used instead for border security.

"Today, we are standing in defense of our men and women in uniform, whose resources have been unfairly taken by the Administration as part of its effort to build an expensive and ineffective border wall," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) stated after the vote.

During a speech on the House floor before the vote Friday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the resolution was about upholding the "Constitution's system of checks and balances" and went on to say, "The president's decision to cancel $3.6 billion for military construction to pay for his wasteful wall makes America less safe."

Republican Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.), however, dismissed Democrats' complaints as "political theater." During floor debate ahead of the vote, Meadows said, "This is all about politics, making sure that there's an open border."

President Trump is expected to veto the resolution as he did last time.

Under the National Emergencies Act, Democrats are able to force votes to end the emergency declaration every six months.