President Trump's national emergency is officially official.
After failing to get funding for his border wall through Congress, the president declared a national emergency to access more money to build it. Both the House and Senate decisively rebuked Trump for the move in a resolution to terminate the declaration, but he vetoed it Friday, letting the emergency stand while bringing in some reinforcements to defend it.
The Democrat-controlled House introduced and then passed the resolution to end Trump's emergency last month with the support of 13 Republicans. The Senate provided an even more decisive slapdown of the president Thursday, with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats to pass the resolution. Still, as he promised in a tweet immediately following the vote, Trump used the first veto of his presidency to strike down the resolution.
At the veto signing on Friday, Attorney General William Barr was on hand to say the emergency was "clearly consistent with the law," per a pool reporter. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump's staunchest supporters, also tweeted his support for the veto and declared Trump was "right on the law" letting him declare the emergency. Democrats have questioned the legality of Trump declaring a national emergency for a shaky reason, and Republicans who voted for the resolution worried about the precedent it could set for future presidents who don't get their way.
Trump originally wanted $5.7 billion for his border wall and refused to pass a budget with less, prompting a five-week government shutdown. He eventually settled for $1.3 billion in the funding bill, but immediately declared the emergency to get another few billion dollars.
