Leaders of the House of Representatives voted on Thursday to authorize a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his national emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. “The President’s sham emergency declaration and unlawful transfers of funds have undermined our democracy, contravening the vote of the bipartisan Congress,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement announcing that the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted to allow the suit. She added that Trump’s action “clearly violates” appropriations laws by siphoning funds already designated by Congress for other uses. In late February the House took a first step to oppose the emergency declaration, voting largely along party lines to block the president from redirecting military construction money to a border wall. He declared his emergency a day after Congress passed a bill to avert another government shutdown; the legislation did not include more than $5 billion he wanted for a border wall.

Source: Huffington Post April 04, 2019 17:15 UTC