Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), the only known GOP lawmaker to co-sponsor a resolution to block President Trump’s emergency declaration, accused fellow Republicans on Saturday of “cry[ing] out for a king” to go around Congress.
The libertarian-leaning congressman urged members of his own party on Twitter to be “faithful” to the Constitution and reject Trump’s plan to “usurp legislative powers” with a declaration aimed at reallocating funding for construction of a barrier at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The same congressional Republicans who joined me in blasting Pres. Obama’s executive overreach now cry out for a king to usurp legislative powers. If your faithfulness to the Constitution depends on which party controls the White House, then you are not faithful to it,” Amash tweeted.
Amash is a frequent critic of the president, and in a previous tweet last week following Trump’s announcement accused the president of trying to “circumvent” Congress with his emergency declaration over illegal border crossings.{mosads}
“A national emergency declaration for a non-emergency is void. A prerequisite for declaring an emergency is that the situation requires immediate action and Congress does not have an opportunity to act. @POTUS @realDonaldTrump is attempting to circumvent our constitutional system,” Amash wrote then.
Democrats are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would block Trump’s national emergency declaration, a resolution that the president has already vowed to veto if it manages to pass both chambers of Congress.
The measure is likely to pass the Democratic-controlled House, and enough Republicans in the Senate have expressed reservations about Trump’s announcement to raise the possibility of it passing that chamber as well. Trump, meanwhile, has predicted that members of his own party will stick with him and support him over the move.
Trump hopes to fund the remainder of his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border with funds allocated through a national emergency declaration after Congress refused to give him the $5.7 billion he requested in a bill to avert a government shutdown this month.