House Leaders Vote to Sue Trump Over Border Emergency Order

(Bloomberg) -- House Democratic leaders voted to file a lawsuit to challenge President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to pay for a wall at the border with Mexico.

"The president’s action clearly violates the appropriations clause by stealing from appropriated funds, an action that was not authorized by constitutional or statutory authority," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Thursday.

Pelosi said members of the House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted to go to court. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he and second-ranking House Republican Steve Scalise voted against the action.

Trump in March vetoed a resolution passed by the House and Senate that sought to halt his national emergency declaration -- the first veto of his administration. The House later failed to override his veto.

Congress refused to provide more than $1.3 billion for his wall in spending legislation earlier this year. Trump says the national emergency declaration allows him to divert $3.6 billion from unspecified military construction projects to pay for more of the wall.

The emergency declaration already faces a number of legal challenges. A coalition of 16 states, led by California, sued the Trump administration in February in an effort to block the declaration.

Separate from the emergency declaration, Trump recently threatened to close all or part of the border with Mexico. He appeared to back away from that position on Thursday when he said he’d impose tariffs on cars coming into the U.S. from Mexico if the country doesn’t do enough over the next year to stem the flow of drugs crossing the border.

--With assistance from Laurie Asséo and Shannon Pettypiece.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.