Pages

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Times Herald: Reed won’t join Democrats to block Trump’s declaration

By Rick Miller, Olean Times Herald
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, said Friday while he didn’t agree with President Trump declaring a national emergency to build a wall with Mexico, he won’t support a Democratic resolution aimed at blocking the president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote on Tuesday to block the president’s declaration.
If approved as expected, it will then go to the Senate where it needs 60 votes to pass. It’s unclear if enough Republicans would join Senate Democrats in voting to block Trump from using money already allocated for military construction projects to build the wall.
Reed told reporters during his weekly press call Friday he had opposed national emergency declarations by former President Barack Obama as well. He said he opposes Congress delegating national emergency authority to the president.
Obama declared 12 national emergencies while in office, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. All related to interests or sanctions in foreign countries, except one declaring the 2009 swine flu pandemic a national emergency after more than 1,000 people in the U.S. had died from the disease.
As Trump was about to declare the national emergency last week, Pelosi said she could think of at least one area a future president might declare a national emergency: gun violence in schools.
There are more than two dozen national emergencies which are still in effect, some after decades.
Normally a Trump backer, Reed has broken with the president over his national security declaration over the situation along the Southern border. He said he disagreed with the declaration.
While Reed said he disagreed with Trump’s path of a national emergency to build the wall and enhance border security, the Democratic resolution sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, “is not the appropriate resolution,” he said. “We should be standing together as an institution.”
As Trump moved toward a decision on whether to declare a national emergency, Reed was one of the few Republicans to urge the president not to do so. Read more here...