Congress will send President Trump a resolution revoking his national emergency declaration, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Monday, although Congress won’t have the votes to override Trump’s veto.
McConnell, R-Ky., said during a press conference in Louisville on Monday that the House-passed resolution has enough GOP support to clear the Senate and end up on Trump’s desk.
“What’s clear in the Senate is there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval,” McConnell said.
At least four GOP lawmakers plan to vote for the resolution, which would provide the simple majority needed to pass it.
But the resolution won’t stop Trump from using the national emergency to redirect $3.6 billion in military construction funds in order to build physical barriers on the southern border. Trump plans to veto the resolution, McConnell said, “and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House.”
It would be the first veto of Trump’s presidency.
A two-thirds majority would first be needed to override a presidential veto in the House, which means about 50 GOP lawmakers would have to vote along with Democrats to try to block the president, which is unlikely.
McConnell told reporters he tried to talk the president out of using the national emergency declaration in part because it could set a precedent for future administrations to circumvent the power of Congress to control spending.
“That is one reasons I argued, obviously without success, that he not take this route,” McConnell told reporters.
The Senate is expected to vote on the resolution in the coming days, but no vote has been scheduled yet.
