President Donald Trump issued his first veto Friday after lawmakers voted for a resolution to overturn the national emergency declaration he issued last month.
Update 3:55 p.m. EDT March 15: The Associated Press reported Trump signed the veto Friday afternoon.
Update 2:25 p.m. EDT March 15: The president thanked Republican senators who voted against the resolution in a tweet Friday afternoon.
Trump is expected to issue his veto at a 3:30 p.m. ceremony Friday.
Original report: The Republican-led U.S. Senate rebuked President Donald Trump on Thursday, passing a resolution aimed at overturning the national emergency declaration issued last month to fund the building of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Senate voted 59-41 for a resolution to halt Trump’s emergency order. Trump has promised to veto it, a promise he iterated in a single-word tweet after Thursday’s vote.
The one-page resolution was passed last month in the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives.
The president urged lawmakers to vote against the measure in a series of tweets posted Thursday.
“I am prepared to veto, if necessary,” he said.
If the measure had passed with a two-thirds majority, it would have been protected against a presidential veto.
Trump declared an emergency on the southern border last month, after a record 35-day partial government shutdown was triggered by the battle over the president's request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. His emergency declaration would funnel over $6 billion in funds from the Treasury Department and the Pentagon to pay for the wall, including $3.6 billion earmarked for already approved military construction projects, according to Cox Media Group's Jamie Dupree.
Democrats have argued that, despite Trump’s claims, no emergency exists on the border, where crossings are down to a nearly 40-year low.
Dozens of former national security experts, including former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and John Kerry and former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, issued a public declaration last month in which they said they were "aware of no emergency that remotely justifies" the emergency declaration, Politico reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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