“I'm going to take a look at the case the president makes,” Sen. Ron Johnson said. | Alex Wong/Getty Images National Emergency Senate Homeland chief weighs Trump rebuke on emergency declaration

The Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said he is undecided on whether he will vote to rebuke President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration, adding that he is concerned the maneuver establishes a dangerous precedent for the executive branch.

“I'm going to take a look at the case the president makes,” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told host Chuck Todd in an interview set to air Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”


The Democratic-controlled House is expected to pass a resolution opposing Trump’s invocation of emergency powers within weeks. The measure would then head to the Senate, where several of the chamber’s 53 Republicans have expressed unease with the president’s decision to circumvent Congress.

The bipartisan spending deal Trump signed on Friday allocated $1.375 billion for border security — far less than the $5.7 billion he had sought for a wall along the southern border. But the emergency declaration lets the White House redirect $3.6 billion earmarked for military construction to his campaign trail promise.

The administration is also seeking to tap $2.5 billion from a Pentagon drug prevention program and $600 million from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund to construct or repair up to 234 miles of barrier separating the U.S. from Mexico.

“I'm also going to take a look at how quickly this money is actually going to be spent, versus what he's going to use,” Johnson said. “If he's not going to be spending it this fiscal year or very early in the next fiscal year, I would have my doubts. So again, I'm going to take a look at it and I’ll, you know, I'll decide when I actually have to vote on it.”

Asked about reservations among conservatives who fear Trump’s declaration would empower future Democratic administrations to unilaterally advance their agendas, Johnson said: “Absolutely, I share those concerns, which is why we're going to take a very careful look at what he's doing here in this instance.”

Johnson has broken with the president over the White House's more controversial policy proposals.

Earlier this month, he torched the Trump administration’s plans for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, saying the exodus of American soldiers from the region would be “tragic” and “unconscionable.” Johnson was also one of 43 Senate Republicans to back a measure by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that rebuked the president’s Syria policy in a bipartisan vote.