Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett Statement on President Trump's Unlawful Emergency Declaration that Violates the Constitution and Makes America Less Safe

Statement

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (USVI) statement on President Trump declaring a national emergency:

"The President's decision to declare a national emergency to divert funds to build a border wall is disgraceful and un-American. Our Founding Fathers' established a fair and equal system of checks and balances to ensure that no branch of government is more powerful than another. In declaring a fraudulent national emergency, NOTHING is being checked.

"This is a power grab by a President who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process. President Trump has failed to convince Mexico, the American people or Congress to pay for his ineffective, wasteful, multi-billion concrete wall, and now is trying a desperate end-run around Congress with his unlawful emergency declaration.

"The President needs to wake up and realize this decision is inconsistent with American values. As a Delegate for the United States Virgin Islands, I cannot and will not stand for this, when my people are still recovering from the damage done from Hurricanes Irma and Maria nearly two years later. Congress will explore legislative and legal action. The President's actions clearly violate Congress's exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution. The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available."

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