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[Page S5670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY
Mr. UDALL. Madam President, we are at a crucial point in our
democracy, with a big decision to be made. Tomorrow, we can correct
this unconstitutional violation by the President of the United States
of taking military money, military readiness money, national security
money, and moving it over for a border wall.
Canceling these 127 projects is not just a one-off. Let's remember
that. We all know the President fully intends to keep at it. It has
already been reported that if the President doesn't get the $5 billion
he has requested for his wall in 2020, the next budget year, the
administration plans to take another $3.6 billion from the Pentagon's
construction budget. This President will not stop raiding funds we have
appropriated, unless we stop him and terminate his sham emergency
declaration.
The careful planning for the 127 canceled projects contrasts sharply
with the administration's haphazard rush to build the President's wall.
The President wants 500 miles of wall before the 2020 election. To do
so, the administration may need to skirt the Federal procurement
process and aggressively take lands away from private landowners
through eminent domain.
Don't worry, says the President to his staff: I will pardon you if
you break any laws.
This is no way to run a government, and, certainly, no way to spend
taxpayer dollars.
Don't get me wrong. I support strong border security. We need well-
trained officers, mobile assets, surveillance technology, and adequate
resources. But a multibillion dollar wall is wasteful, ineffective, and
offensive.
Now, I know some in this Chamber disagree with that opinion. The
place to debate and decide how we spend taxpayer dollars to keep our
border secure is in the Appropriations Committee, its various
subcommittees, and on the floor of the Senate. That is what the
Constitution says.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 84: ``An elective despotism was not
the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government
should be so divided and balanced . . . that no one could transcend
their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by
the others.''
It is time for this body to check and restrain the executive branch.
The President is invading our constitutional prerogative. He is not a
despot. His constitutional powers are limited. It is up to us to
support and defend the Constitution of the United States, as we swore
an oath to do, and to do the work we were elected to do.
Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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