Representing Texas in Congress was one of the greatest honors of our lives. We remember well taking the oath of office and how awesome felt the responsibility to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. It burned within us every day we served in the U.S. Congress, and it still does.

Those now in office are now entrusted with that same duty, and they are being called to act to uphold that responsibility. Earlier this month, President Trump issued a declaration of national emergency in order to obtain funding for a wall on our southern border. Americans may have different views on President Trump’s wall proposal, but all of us should be able to agree that an emergency declaration is a constitutionally inappropriate means to secure funding. In order to fulfill their oath of office Members of Congress should vote to terminate the emergency declaration.

Although Republicans are naturally inclined to stand with their president, it is Republicans who should be most worried about the emergency declaration. That is why we have joined together with two dozen other Republican former members of Congress to urge Republicans now in the House of Representatives and Senate to vote to end the emergency declaration.

Together, we wrote, “It has always been a Republican fundamental principle that no matter how strong our policy preferences, no matter how deep our loyalties to presidents or party leaders, in order to remain a constitutional republic we must act within the borders of the Constitution. Our oath is to put the country and its Constitution above everything, including party politics or loyalty to a president.”

That great Constitution creates three co-equal branches of government. It places lawmaking and spending power in the hands of the Congress. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, states: “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

The power of the purse rests with Congress because it maintains the most direct connection between those being governed and those governing.

Although President Trump was clear that he desired funding for the border wall, the Congress did not appropriate it. Indeed, the government partially shut down for more than a month over this issue. The shutdown was resolved with a bipartisan spending agreement that did not include border wall funding. The president should not be able to circumvent Congress’s considered decision not to provide requested funding simply by invoking an emergency. That is not how our Constitution vests power.

The president and many Americans feel strongly about the importance of building a wall on the border. But anyone who supports this president using emergency powers to obtain funding for a priority that Congress was not willing to fund must be prepared to answer this question: What will you do when a president of another party uses the precedent you are establishing to impose policies to which you are unalterably opposed? There is no way around this difficulty: what powers are ceded to a president whose policies you support may also be used by presidents whose policies you abhor.

Any person who has served or currently serves in the Congress sought the office out of great love for our country and a passionate belief in the majesty of our constitution. We sought to serve to advance freedom and prosperity — and above all to defend our constitutional order. Now those in office are being called on to do exactly that, even when expediency may counsel shunting high principle aside. Honoring that awesome oath of office means voting to terminate the emergency declared by the president on February 15, 2019.

Bartlett, a Republican, represented Texas’s 3rd Congressional District between 1983-1991 and was mayor of Dallas. Steelman, a Republican, represented Texas’s 5th district between 1973 and 1977.