Democrats, joined by 13 Republicans, passed the measure killing the president’s border wall order; it now moves to a Senate vote

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has advanced a resolution to terminate Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration at the US-Mexico border, in an attempt to block the president from beginning construction on a border wall without approval from Congress.

In a vote of 245-182, the House easily passed the measure.

Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats in moving to revoke Trump’s executive order, which he signed earlier this month after US lawmakers refused to authorize his request for $5.7bn in funding toward a border wall during negotiations on government spending.

“This isn’t about the border,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said. “This is about the constitution.”

The resolution will now face a vote in the Republican-led Senate, where only a handful of defections are needed for it to pass in what would mark a major rebuke of the president. Trump has vowed to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

At least one key Senate Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said she would support the resolution to block Trump’s emergency declaration.

“I have been concerned, whenever any president, Republican or Democrat, moves beyond what most would consider to be their authorities,” she said.

Play Video 1:43 Five false claims from Trump's national emergency speech – video

Two other Republican senators, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, are expected to vote against Trump’s order.

Several other Republicans were critical of Trump’s decision to declare an emergency, arguing it set a dangerous precedent that challenged Congress’s power of the purse. But it remained unclear if enough Republicans, who have been reticent to take on the president, would be willing to issue a direct challenge of his authority.

Although they expected some to break ranks and join Democrats in supporting the resolution, Republican leaders said they did not anticipate the measure would earn a veto-proof majority.

Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill that the issue was not about partisanship, but a question of “patriotism”.

“We would be delinquent in our duties if we did not resist, if we did not fight back to overturn the president’s declaration,” she said.

Trump’s emergency declaration has separately been hit with several lawsuits, including one filed last week by the attorneys general of 16 states. At the center of most of the legal arguments is the president’s move to circumvent Congress and reallocate funding toward a border wall against the will of federal lawmakers.

Trump’s emergency: the arbitrary action of an instinctive autocrat | Simon Tisdall Read more

The concerns were echoed by 58 former national security officials, who released an open letter on Monday denouncing Trump’s declaration.

“Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border,” the officials wrote.

The signatories included former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who served in Barack Obama’s administration, as well as Eliot Cohen, the state department counselor under George W Bush, and George HW Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations, Thomas Pickering.

Trump meanwhile urged members of his party to hold the line, tweeting on Monday: “I hope our great Republican senators don’t get led down the path of weak and ineffective border security.”

“Without strong borders, we don’t have a country – and the voters are on board with us,” he wrote. “Be strong and smart, don’t fall into the Democrats’ ‘trap’ of open borders and crime!”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) I hope our great Republican Senators don’t get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we don’t have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don’t fall into the Democrats “trap” of Open Borders and Crime!

Few promises are as symbolic of Trump’s agenda as building a wall along the south-west US border. Despite his longtime insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall, Trump has repeatedly called on Congress to fund the project and in December led the country into a 35-day shutdown when Democrats rebuffed his demands.

The shutdown – which marked the third of Trump’s presidency and the longest in US history – ended with the president receiving zero funding for a border wall. Earlier this month, Congress passed a spending bill that allocated nearly $1.4bn toward the construction of a physical barrier but was well short of the $5.7bn Trump had requested.