Tom Udall: “last month, both the Senate and the House of Representatives resolved, on a bipartisan basis, to terminate the…”

“last month, both the Senate and the House of Representatives resolved, on a bipartisan basis, to terminate the President's declaration of a national emergency along our southern border. I was proud to lead the charge before this body to terminate that declaration--a declaration the President is using to raid congressionally appropriated military construction funds to build this border wall. Plain and simple, the President's emergency declaration is an end-run around Congress's spending powers and the Constitution. Last week, a Federal district judge agreed and concluded that the President's declaration is ``unlawful.'' Article I, section 9, of the Constitution could not be clearer. It reads: ``No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. . . .'' The Founders gave Congress the power to appropriate--the power of the purse. This is one of the most consequential powers. Congress has this power to make sure that decisions about how public dollars are spent have widespread support and are not the product of an extreme minority, let alone one man. Our power to appropriate is part of the system of checks and balances built into our Constitution. The Founders made sure that the three branches of government exercised their own separate and limited powers, and they made sure that no one branch and no one person could exercise too much power, especially over the use of taxpayer money.…”