Pelosi slams GOP plan to let Trump violate Constitution 'just this once'

A number of Senate Republicans have expressed concerns that Trump’s fake emergency declaration to pillage already appropriated federal funds for his needless wall violates the Constitution and wrongly usurps Congress’ powers.

But anyone who’s watched Congressional Republicans over the last two years knows how this story is likely to play out: GOP lawmakers express concerns but at the last minute back down, giving Trump exactly what he wants.

And that seems to be exactly what Senate Republicans are gearing up to do.

Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Tuesday that would rein in Trump’s emergency declaration powers. But the bill wouldn’t pass until after they vote to let Trump’s currently emergency declaration stand.

The bill’s introduction comes after Vice President Mike Pence has been begging Republicans to allow Trump’s bogus emergency declaration to stand, proposing this very plan as a workaround for their concerns.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, is not having any of this charade.

She issued a statement on Wednesday saying the House won’t take up the GOP Senate’s legislation to rein in Trump’s emergency declaration.

“In an effort to avoid voting in favor of the House’s resolution to terminate Trump’s #FakeEmergency, GOP senators are proposing legislation to allow Trump to violate the Constitution just this once,” Pelosi tweeted. “The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass.”

It’s unclear whether Pelosi’s throwdown will change Republicans’ tactics.

For now, the Senate is slated to vote Thursday on whether to repeal Trump’s fake emergency. Democrats in the House already passed the repeal resolution.

Currently, enough GOP senators have said they’ll vote for the resolution to repeal the national emergency.

But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested on Tuesday that some of those members may be wavering.

“They’re being beaten up right now,” Paul told reporters on Tuesday, according to HuffPost’s Igor Bobic. “If you see anybody with blood dripping … they may be changing.”

All eyes will be on those Republicans on Thursday to see if they actually have a backbone, or if they’ll once again cave to their lawless leaders’ demands.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.