Senate likely to get enough votes against Trump's national emergency declaration

The U.S. Senate is likely to garner enough bipartisan votes to pass a resolution against President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration aimed to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall, local media reported Sunday.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Republican Senator Rand Paul said at a dinner in Western Kentucky University late Saturday night.

"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," he was quoted by local media reports as saying.

"I can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president," he said.

Paul joins three other Senate Republicans - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina - who have already said they will vote with Democrats in opposition to the president's declaration.

With Republicans holding just 53 Senate seats, these defections mean the resolution will likely pass, said the reports.

On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled House voted 245-182 to approve the resolution. Thirteen House Republicans joined Democrats to end Trump's emergency declaration.

The Senate is expected to vote later this month on the House resolution and Trump has previously said that he would veto the measure.

Trump made the declaration in February to free up billions of dollars in funding for border wall construction, after Congress allocated just a fraction of what he had asked for.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)