Ocasio-Cortez, Castro plan to introduce bill to block national emergency

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) plan to introduce a bill to stop President Trump’s emergency declaration.

A Democratic aide confirmed that Castro reached out to Ocasio-Cortez to get her on board and the pair is reaching out to others to build support.

“We’ve got people flooding in to support this,” the aide said.

The timing of introduction remains up in the air. The House adjourned Friday morning and is out next week for the President’s Day recess. But the chamber will be conducting pro-forma sessions next week that would allow for the introduction of bills. 

Ocasio-Cortez confirmed the move on Twitter, writing, “.@JoaquinCastrotx and I aren’t going to let the President declare a fake national emergency without a fight.”

.@JoaquinCastrotx and I aren’t going to let the President declare a fake national emergency without a fight. https://t.co/iPlcVVsm6U

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019

Castro said in a statement Thursday that he was prepared to introduce a resolution to end the president’s ability to declare national emergencies. 

{mosads}“If President Trump declares a national emergency to fund his border wall, I’m prepared to introduce a resolution to terminate the President’s emergency declaration under 50 U.S.C. 1622,” he said.

“President Trump would unconstitutionally usurp congressional authority by declaring an emergency based upon unfounded hype rather than any substantive emergency,” Castro added. 

Trump declared the national emergency on Friday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday said Trump would make the declaration as lawmakers agreed to a bipartisan funding bill.

The president’s national emergency declaration has faced pushback from a number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and will likely face numerous legal challenges.

— Mike Lillis contributed to this report which was updated at 10:59 a.m.