Paul told a group of reporters on Capitol Hill that he thinks 10 Senators will vote against Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro's resolution, which the Texas Democrat believes will would end Trump's national emergency.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at the Capitol in 2018.
The Senate likely now has enough votes to pass a measure blocking President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration after Sen. In the letter sent to Congress, Trump cited threats to Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity and "actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation, including its purported annexation of Crimea and its use of force in Ukraine" as continuing to present "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to United States national security and foreign policy. "If we take away those checks and balances, it's a unsafe thing", Paul suggested, according to the paper. That means more than 53 Republicans in the House would need to join the Democrats to reach 288 votes.
"I think that really it's a very risky thing for people to be voting against border security", Trump said. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said Saturday night that he couldn't back Trump's position because the president was exceeding his constitutional authority and improperly limiting the role of Congress in approving federal expenditures.
Paul joins Republicans senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in his opposition.
UNSC blacklists 'possible' Al-Qaida successor, Hamza Bin Laden
He is particularly interested in exacting "revenge" against the US for its 2011 killing of his father, the State Department says . The State Department noted that bin Laden is married to the daughter of a September 11 hijacker.
Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6bn from military construction to erect more border barriers, having been denied his requested funding by Congress, after a 35-day government shutdown over the issue. "Today, I think he's wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits", he asserted, adding, "I look forward to working for a constitutional way to deal with our border security issue".
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of ME are in the group of three.
Assuming all 47 Democrats and their independent allies go against Trump, that would give opponents of the emergency declaration 51 votes - and the majority needed.
It sets up a possible veto from Trump, which Congress likely could not override. But he announced, on February 15, an emergency declaration on the United States' southern border. It has 18 days from the day the House approved the resolution on Tuesday.
Trump has argued numerous times the situation at the border constitutes a crisis and that a wall is critical to deterring illegal drugs and criminal gangs from coming into this country.
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