[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 34 (Monday, February 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1410-S1413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DECLARATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, before Congress went out of session 2 
weeks ago, President Trump announced that he was declaring a national 
emergency to redirect funds to the construction of a border wall. It 
was a lawless act, a gross abuse of power, and an attempt by the 
President to distract from the fact that he broke his core promise to 
have Mexico pay for the wall.
  Let me give a few reasons why the President's emergency is so wrong.
  First, there is no evidence of an emergency at the border. Illegal 
border crossings have been declining for 20 years. Just this morning, a 
group of 58 former senior national security figures, including Chuck 
Hagel and Madeleine Albright, released a statement saying: ``Under no 
plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency 
today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for 
other purposes to build a wall at the southern border.''
  I ask unanimous consent that the full statement be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

     Joint Declaration of Former United States Government Officials

       We, the undersigned, declare as follows:
       1. We are former officials in the U.S. government who have 
     worked on national security and homeland security issues from 
     the White House as well as agencies across the Executive 
     Branch. We have served in senior leadership roles in 
     administrations of both major political parties, and 
     collectively we have devoted a great many decades to 
     protecting the security interests of the United States. We 
     have held the highest security clearances, and we have 
     participated in the highest levels of policy deliberations on 
     a broad range of issues. These include: immigration, border 
     security, counterterrorism, military operations, and our 
     nation's relationship with other countries, including those 
     south of our border.
       a. Madeleine K. Albright served as Secretary of State from 
     1997 to 2001. A refugee and naturalized American citizen, she 
     served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 
     from 1993 to 1997. She has also been a member of the Central 
     Intelligence Agency External Advisory Board since 2009 and of 
     the Defense Policy Board since 2011, in which capacities she 
     has received assessments of threats facing the United States.
       b. Jeremy B. Bash served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. 
     Department of Defense from 2011 to 2013, and as Chief of 
     Staff of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011.
       c. John B. Bellinger III served as the Legal Adviser to the 
     U.S. Department of State from 2005 to 2009. He previously 
     served as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal 
     Adviser to the National Security Council from 2001 to 2005.
       d. Daniel Benjamin served as Ambassador-at-Large for 
     Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State from 2009 to 
     2012.
       e. Antony Blinken served as Deputy Secretary of State from 
     2015 to 2017. He previously served as Deputy National 
     Security Advisor to the President from 2013 to 2015.
       f. John 0. Brennan served as Director of the Central 
     Intelligence Agency from 2013 to 2017. He previously served 
     as Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and 
     Counterterrorism and Assistant to the President from 2009 to 
     2013.
       g. R. Nicholas Burns served as Under Secretary of State for 
     Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008. He previously served as 
     U.S. Ambassador to NATO and as U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
       h. William J. Burns served as Deputy Secretary of State 
     from 2011 to 2014. He previously served as Under Secretary of 
     State for Political Affairs from 2008 to 2011, as U.S. 
     Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, as Assistant 
     Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2001 to 
     2005, and as U.S. Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001.

[[Page S1411]]

       i. Johnnie Carson served as Assistant Secretary of State 
     for African Affairs from 2009 to 2013. He previously served 
     as the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya from 1999 to 2003, to 
     Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1997, and to Uganda from 1991 to 1994.
       j. James Clapper served as U.S. Director of National 
     Intelligence from 2010 to 2017.
       k. David S. Cohen served as Under Secretary of the Treasury 
     for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from 2011 to 2015 
     and as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 
     from 2015 to 2017.
       l. Eliot A. Cohen served as Counselor of the U.S. 
     Department of State from 2007 to 2009.
       m. Ryan Crocker served as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan 
     from 2011 to 2012, as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to 
     2009, as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan from 2004 to 2007, as 
     U.S. Ambassador to Syria from 1998 to 2001, as U.S. 
     Ambassador to Kuwait from 1994 to 1997, and U.S. Ambassador 
     to Lebanon from 1990 to 1993.
       n. Thomas Donilon served as National Security Advisor to 
     the President from 2010 to 2013.
       o. Jen Easterly served as Special Assistant to the 
     President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism from 2013 
     to 2016.
       p. Nancy Ely-Raphel served as Senior Adviser to the 
     Secretary of State and Director of the Office to Monitor and 
     Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2001 to 2003. She 
     previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia from 
     1998 to 2001.
       q. Daniel P. Erikson served as Special Advisor for Western 
     Hemisphere Affairs to the Vice President from 2015 to 2017, 
     and as Senior Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the 
     U.S. Department of State from 2010 to 2015.
       r. John D. Feeley served as U.S. Ambassador to Panama from 
     2015 to 2018. He served as Principal Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. 
     Department of State from 2012 to 2015.
       s. Daniel F. Feldman served as Special Representative for 
     Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State from 
     2014 to 2015.
       t. Jonathan Finer served as Chief of Staff to the Secretary 
     of State from 2015 to 2017, and Director of the Policy 
     Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State from 2016 to 
     2017.
       u. Jendayi Frazer served as Assistant Secretary of State 
     for African Affairs from 2005 to 2009. She served as U.S. 
     Ambassador to South Africa from 2004 to 2005.
       v. Suzy George served as Executive Secretary and Chief of 
     Staff of the National Security Council from 2014 to 2017.
       w. Phil Gordon served as Special Assistant to the President 
     and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa 
     and the Gulf from 2013 to 2015, and Assistant Secretary of 
     State for European and Eurasian Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
       x. Chuck Hagel served as Secretary of Defense from 2013 to 
     2015, and previously served as Co-Chair of the President's 
     Intelligence Advisory Board. From 1997 to 2009, he served as 
     U.S. Senator for Nebraska, and as a senior member of the 
     Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
       y. Avril D. Haines served as Deputy National Security 
     Advisor to the President from 2015 to 2017. From 2013 to 
     2015, she served as Deputy Director of the Central 
     Intelligence Agency.
       z. Luke Hartig served as Senior Director for 
     Counterterrorism at the National Security Council from 2014 
     to 2016.
       aa. Heather A. Higginbottom served as Deputy Secretary of 
     State for Management and Resources from 2013 to 2017.
       bb. Roberta Jacobson served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico 
     from 2016 to 2018. She previously served as Assistant 
     Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2011 
     to 2016.
       cc. Gil Kerlikowske served as Commissioner of Customs and 
     Border Protection from2014 to 2017. He previously served as 
     Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 
     2009 to 2014.
       dd. John F. Kerry served as Secretary of State from 2013 to 
     2017.
       ee. Prem Kumar served as Senior Director for the Middle 
     East and North Africa at the National Security Council from 
     2013 to 2015.
       ff. John E. McLaughlin served as Deputy Director of the 
     Central Intelligence Agency from 2000 to 2004 and as Acting 
     Director in 2004. His duties included briefing President-
     elect Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.
       gg. Lisa O. Monaco served as Assistant to the President for 
     Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National 
     Security Advisor from 2013 to 2017. Previously, she served as 
     Assistant Attorney General for National Security from 2011 to 
     2013.
       hh. Janet Napolitano served as Secretary of Homeland 
     Security from 2009 to 2013. She served as the Governor of 
     Arizona from 2003 to 2009.
       ii. James D. Nealon served as Assistant Secretary for 
     International Engagement at the U.S. Department of Homeland 
     Security from 2017 to 2018. He served as U.S. Ambassador to 
     Honduras from 2014 to 2017.
       jj. James C. O'Brien served as Special Presidential Envoy 
     for Hostage Affairs from 2015 to 2017. He served in the U.S. 
     Department of State from 1989 to 2001, including as Principal 
     Deputy Director of Policy Planning and as Special 
     Presidential Envoy for the Balkans.
       kk. Matthew G. Olsen served as Director of the National 
     Counterterrorism Center from 2011 to 2014.
       11. Leon E. Panetta served as Secretary of Defense from 
     2011 to 2013. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Director of the 
     Central Intelligence Agency.
       mm. Anne W. Patterson served as Assistant Secretary of 
     State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2013 to 2017. Previously, 
     she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt from 2011 to 2013, 
     to Pakistan from 2007 to 2010, to Colombia from 2000 to 2003, 
     and to El Salvador from 1997 to 2000.
       nn. Thomas R. Pickering served as Under Secretary of State 
     for Political Affairs from 1997 to 2000. He served as U.S. 
     Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1989 to 
     1992.
       oo. Amy Pope served as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor and 
     Deputy Assistant to the President from 2015 to 2017.
       pp. Samantha J. Power served as U.S. Permanent 
     Representative to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. From 
     2009 to 2013, she served as Senior Director for Multilateral 
     and Human Rights at the National Security Council.
       qq. Jeffrey Prescott served as Deputy National Security 
     Advisor to the Vice President from 2013 to 2015, and as 
     Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for 
     Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Gulf States from 2015 to 2017.
       rr. Nicholas Rasmussen served as Director of the National 
     Counterterrorism Center from 2014 to 2017.
       ss. Alan Charles Raul served as Vice Chairman of the 
     Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 to 
     2008. He previously served as General Counsel of the U.S. 
     Department of Agriculture from 1989 to 1993, General Counsel 
     of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive 
     Office of the President from 1988 to 1989, and Associate 
     Counsel to the President from 1986 to 1989.
       tt. Dan Restrepo served as Special Assistant to the 
     President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs 
     at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2012.
       uu. Susan E. Rice served as U.S. Permanent Representative 
     to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 and as National 
     Security Advisor to the President from 2013 to 2017.
       vv. Anne C. Richard served as Assistant Secretary of State 
     for Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2012 to 2017.
       ww. Eric P. Schwartz served as Assistant Secretary of State 
     for Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2009 to 2011. 
     From 1993 to 2001, he was responsible for refugee and 
     humanitarian issues at the National Security Council, 
     ultimately serving as Special Assistant to the President for 
     National Security Affairs and Senior Director for 
     Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs.
       xx. Andrew J. Shapiro served as Assistant Secretary of 
     State for Political-Military Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
       yy. Wendy R. Sherman served as Under Secretary of State for 
     Political Affairs from 2011 to 2015.
       zz. Vikram Singh served as Deputy Special Representative 
     for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2010 to 2011 and as Deputy 
     Assistant Secretary of Defense for Southeast Asia from 2012 
     to 2014.
       aaa. Dana Shell Smith served as U.S. Ambassador to Qatar 
     from 2014 to 2017. Previously, she served as Principal Deputy 
     Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs.
       bbb. Jeffrey H. Smith served as General Counsel of the 
     Central Intelligence Agency from 1995 to 1996. He previously 
     served as General Counsel of the Senate Armed Services 
     Committee.
       ccc. Jake Sullivan served as National Security Advisor to 
     the Vice President from 2013 to 2014. He previously served as 
     Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State 
     from 2011 to 2013.
       ddd. Strobe Talbott served as Deputy Secretary of State 
     from 1994 to 2001.
       eee. Linda Thomas-Greenfield served as Assistant Secretary 
     for the Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She 
     previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia and Deputy 
     Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, 
     and Migration from 2004 to 2006.
       fff. Arturo A. Valenzuela served as Assistant Secretary of 
     State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2009 to 2011. He 
     previously served as Special Assistant to the President and 
     Senior Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National 
     Security Council from 1999 to 2000, and as Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary of State for Mexican Affairs from 1994 to 1996.
       2. On February 15, 2019, the President declared a 
     ``national emergency'' for the purpose of diverting 
     appropriated funds from previously designated uses to build a 
     wall along the southern border. We are aware of no emergency 
     that remotely justifies such a step. The President's actions 
     are at odds with the overwhelming evidence in the public 
     record, including the administration's own data and 
     estimates. We have lived and worked through national 
     emergencies, and we support the President's power to mobilize 
     the Executive Branch to respond quickly in genuine national 
     emergencies. But under no plausible assessment of the 
     evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles 
     the President to tap into funds appropriated for other 
     purposes to build a wall at the southern border. To our 
     knowledge, the President's assertion of a national emergency 
     here is unprecedented, in that he seeks to address a 
     situation: (1) that has been enduring, rather than one that 
     has arisen suddenly; (2) that in fact has improved over time 
     rather than deteriorated; (3) by reprogramming billions of 
     dollars in funds in the face of clear congressional intent to 
     the contrary; and (4)

[[Page S1412]]

     with assertions that are rebutted not just by the public 
     record, but by his agencies' own official data, documents, 
     and statements.
       3. Illegal border crossings are near forty-year lows. At 
     the outset, there is no evidence of a sudden or emergency 
     increase in the number of people seeking to cross the 
     southern border. According to the administration's own data, 
     the numbers of apprehensions and undetected illegal border 
     crossings at the southern border are near forty-year lows. 
     Although there was a modest increase in apprehensions in 
     2018, that figure is in keeping with the number of 
     apprehensions only two years earlier, and the overall trend 
     indicates a dramatic decline over the last fifteen years in 
     particular. The administration also estimates that 
     ``undetected unlawful entries'' at the southern border ``fell 
     from approximately 851,000 to nearly 62,000'' between fiscal 
     years 2006 to 2016, the most recent years for which data are 
     available. The United States currently hosts what is 
     estimated to be the smallest number of undocumented 
     immigrants since 2004. And in fact, in recent years, the 
     majority of currently undocumented immigrants entered the 
     United States legally, but overstayed their visas, a problem 
     that will not be addressed by the declaration of an emergency 
     along the southern border.
       4. There is no documented terrorist or national security 
     emergency at the southern border. There is no reason to 
     believe that there is a terrorist or national security 
     emergency at the southern border that could justify the 
     President's proclamation.
       a. This administration's own most recent Country Report on 
     Terrorism, released only five months ago, found that ``there 
     was no credible evidence indicating that international 
     terrorist groups have established bases in Mexico, worked 
     with Mexican drug cartels, or sent operatives via Mexico into 
     the United States.'' Since 1975, there has been only one 
     reported incident in which immigrants who had crossed the 
     southern border illegally attempted to commit a terrorist 
     act. That incident occurred more than twelve years ago, and 
     involved three brothers from Macedonia who had been brought 
     into the United States as children more than twenty years 
     earlier.
       b. Although the White House has claimed, as an argument 
     favoring a wall at the southern border, that almost 4,000 
     known or suspected terrorists were intercepted at the 
     southern border in a single year, this assertion has since 
     been widely and consistently repudiated, including by this 
     administration's own Department of Homeland Security. The 
     overwhelming majority of individuals on terrorism watchlists 
     who were intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol were 
     attempting to travel to the United States by air; of the 
     individuals on the terrorist watchlist who were encountered 
     while entering the United States during fiscal year 2017, 
     only 13 percent traveled by land. And for those who have 
     attempted to enter by land, only a small fraction do so at 
     the southern border. Between October 2017 and March 2018, 
     forty-one foreign immigrants on the terrorist watchlist were 
     intercepted at the northern border. Only six such immigrants 
     were intercepted at the southern border.
       5. There is no emergency related to violent crime at the 
     southern border. Nor can the administration justify its 
     actions on the grounds that the incidence of violent crime on 
     the southern border constitutes a national emergency. Factual 
     evidence consistently shows that unauthorized immigrants have 
     no special proclivity to engage in criminal or violent 
     behavior. According to a Cato Institute analysis of 
     criminological data, undocumented immigrants are 44 percent 
     less likely to be incarcerated nationwide than are native-
     born citizens. And in Texas, undocumented immigrants were 
     found to have a first-time conviction rate 32 percent below 
     that of native-born Americans; the conviction rates of 
     unauthorized immigrants for violent crimes such as homicide 
     and sex offenses were also below those of native-born 
     Americans. Meanwhile, overall rates of violent crime in the 
     United States have declined significantly over the past 25 
     years, falling 49 percent from 1993 to 2017. And violent 
     crime rates in the country's 30 largest cities have decreased 
     on average by 2.7 percent in 2018 alone, further undermining 
     any suggestion that recent crime trends currently warrant the 
     declaration of a national emergency.
       6. There is no human or drug trafficking emergency that can 
     be addressed by a wall at the southern border. The 
     administration has claimed that the presence of human and 
     drug trafficking at the border justifies its emergency 
     declaration. But there is no evidence of any such sudden 
     crisis at the southern border that necessitates a 
     reprogramming of appropriations to build a border wall.
       a. The overwhelming majority of opioids that enter the 
     United States across a land border are carried through legal 
     ports of entry in personal or commercial vehicles, not 
     smuggled through unauthorized border crossings. A border wall 
     would not stop these drugs from entering the United States. 
     Nor would a wall stop drugs from entering via other routes, 
     including smuggling tunnels, which circumvent such physical 
     barriers as fences and walls, and international mail (which 
     is how high-purity fentanyl, for example, is usually shipped 
     from China directly to the United States).
       b. Likewise, illegal crossings at the southern border are 
     not the principal source of human trafficking victims. About 
     two-thirds of human trafficking victims served by nonprofit 
     organizations that receive funding from the relevant 
     Department of Justice office are U.S. citizens, and even 
     among non-citizens, most trafficking victims usually arrive 
     in the country on valid visas. None of these instances of 
     trafficking could be addressed by a border wall. And the 
     three states with the highest per capita trafficking 
     reporting rates are not even located along the southern 
     border.
       7. This proclamation will only exacerbate the humanitarian 
     concerns that do exist at the southern border. There are real 
     humanitarian concerns at the border, but they largely result 
     from the current administration's own deliberate policies 
     towards migrants. For example, the administration has used a 
     ``metering'' policy to turn away families fleeing extreme 
     violence and persecution in their home countries, forcing 
     them to wait indefinitely at the border to present their 
     asylum cases, and has adopted a number of other punitive 
     steps to restrict those seeking asylum at the southern 
     border. These actions have forced asylum-seekers to live on 
     the streets or in makeshift shelters and tent cities with 
     abysmal living conditions, and limited access to basic 
     sanitation has caused outbreaks of disease and death. This 
     state of affairs is a consequence of choices this 
     administration has made, and erecting a wall will do nothing 
     to ease the suffering of these people.
       8. Redirecting funds for the claimed ``national emergency'' 
     will undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy 
     interests. In the face of a nonexistent threat, redirecting 
     funds for the construction of a wall along the southern 
     border will undermine national security by needlessly pulling 
     resources from Department of Defense programs that are 
     responsible for keeping our troops and our country safe and 
     running effectively.
       a. Repurposing funds from the defense construction budget 
     will drain money from critical defense infrastructure 
     projects, possibly including improvement of military 
     hospitals, construction of roads, and renovation of on-base 
     housing. And the proclamation will likely continue to divert 
     those armed forces already deployed at the southern border 
     from their usual training activities or missions, affecting 
     troop readiness.
       b. In addition, the administration's unilateral, 
     provocative actions are heightening tensions with our 
     neighbors to the south, at a moment when we need their help 
     to address a range of Western Hemisphere concerns. These 
     actions are placing friendly governments to the south under 
     impossible pressures and driving partners away. They have 
     especially strained our diplomatic relationship with Mexico, 
     a relationship that is vital to regional efforts ranging from 
     critical intelligence and law enforcement partnerships to 
     cooperative efforts to address the growing tensions with 
     Venezuela. Additionally, the proclamation could well lead to 
     the degradation of the natural environment in a manner that 
     could only contribute to long-term socioeconomic and security 
     challenges.
       c. Finally, by declaring a national emergency for domestic 
     political reasons with no compelling reason or justification 
     from his senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, 
     the President has further eroded his credibility with foreign 
     leaders, both friend and foe. Should a genuine foreign crisis 
     erupt, this lack of credibility will materially weaken this 
     administration's ability to marshal allies to support the 
     United States, and will embolden adversaries to oppose us.
       9. The situation at the border does not require the use of 
     the armed forces, and a wall is unnecessary to support the 
     use of the armed forces. We understand that the 
     administration is also claiming that the situation at the 
     southern border ``requires use of the armed forces,'' and 
     that a wall is ``necessary to support such use'' of the armed 
     forces. These claims are implausible.
       a. Historically, our country has deployed National Guard 
     troops at the border solely to assist the Border Patrol when 
     there was an extremely high number of apprehensions, together 
     with a particularly low number of Border Patrol agents. But 
     currently, even with retention and recruitment challenges, 
     the Border Patrol is at historically high staffing and 
     funding levels, and apprehensions--measured in both absolute 
     and per-agent terms--are near historic lows.
       b. Furthermore, the composition of southern border 
     crossings has shifted such that families and unaccompanied 
     minors now account for the majority of immigrants seeking 
     entry at the southern border; these individuals do not 
     present a threat that would need to be countered with 
     military force.
       c. Just last month, when asked what the military is doing 
     at the border that couldn't be done by the Department of 
     Homeland Security if it had the funding for it, a top-level 
     defense official responded, ``[n]one of the capabilities that 
     we are providing [at the southern border] are combat 
     capabilities. It's not a war zone along the border.'' 
     Finally, it is implausible that hundreds of miles of wall 
     across the southern border are somehow necessary to support 
     the use of armed forces. We are aware of no military- or 
     security-related rationale that could remotely justify such 
     an endeavor.
       10. There is no basis for circumventing the appropriations 
     process with a declaration of a national emergency at the 
     southern border. We do not deny that our nation faces real 
     immigration and national security challenges. But as the 
     foregoing demonstrates, these challenges demand a thoughtful, 
     evidence-based strategy, not a manufactured crisis that rests 
     on falsehoods and fearmongering. In a briefing before the 
     Senate Intelligence Committee on

[[Page S1413]]

     January 29, 2019, less than one month before the Presidential 
     Proclamation, the Directors of the CIA, DNI, FBI, and NSA 
     testified about numerous serious current threats to U.S. 
     national security, but none of the officials identified a 
     security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. In a briefing 
     before the House Armed Services Committee the next day, 
     Pentagon officials acknowledged that the 2018 National 
     Defense Strategy does not identify the southern border as a 
     security threat. Leading legislators with access to 
     classified information and the President's own statements 
     have strongly suggested, if not confirmed, that there is no 
     evidence supporting the administration's claims of an 
     emergency. And it is reported that the President made the 
     decision to circumvent the appropriations process and 
     reprogram money without the Acting Secretary of Defense 
     having even started to consider where the funds might come 
     from, suggesting an absence of consultation and internal 
     deliberations that in our experience are necessary and 
     expected before taking a decision of this magnitude.
       11. For all of the foregoing reasons, in our professional 
     opinion, there is no factual basis for the declaration of a 
     national emergency for the purpose of circumventing the 
     appropriations process and reprogramming billions of dollars 
     in funding to construct a wall at the southern border, as 
     directed by the Presidential Proclamation of February 15, 
     2019.
       Respectfully submitted,
       Signed/*
       Madeleine K. Albright, Jeremy B. Bash, John B. Bellinger 
     III, Daniel Benjamin, Antony Blinken, John O. Brennan, R. 
     Nicholas Burns, William J. Burns, Johnnie Carson, James 
     Clapper.
       David S. Cohen, Eliot A. Cohen, Ryan Crocker, Thomas 
     Donilon, Jen Easterly, Nancy Ely-Raphel, Daniel P. Erikson, 
     John D. Feeley, Daniel F. Feldman, Jonathan Finer.
       Jendayi Frazer, Suzy George, Phil Gordon, Chuck Hagel, 
     Avril D. Haines, Luke Hartig, Heather A. Higginbottom, 
     Roberta Jacobson, Gil Kerlikowske, John F. Kerry.
       Prem Kumar, John E. McLaughlin, Lisa O. Monaco, Janet 
     Napolitano, James D. Nealon, James C. O'Brien, Matthew G. 
     Olsen, Leon E. Panetta, Anne W. Patterson, Thomas R. 
     Pickering.
       Amy Pope, Samantha J. Power, Jeffrey Prescott, Nicholas 
     Rasmussen, Alan Charles Raul, Dan Restrepo, Susan E. Rice, 
     Anne C. Richard, Eric P. Schwartz, Andrew J. Shapiro.
       Wendy R. Sherman, Vikram Singh, Dana Shell Smith, Jeffrey 
     H. Smith, Jake Sullivan, Strobe Talbott, Linda Thomas-
     Greenfield, Arturo A. Valenzuela.

  Mr. SCHUMER. Even the President himself, who is now declaring an 
emergency, halfway through his meandering speech proclaiming the 
emergency, said: ``I didn't need to do this . . . but I'd rather do it 
[build the wall] much faster.''
  If there was ever a statement that says this is not an emergency, 
that is it. He said he didn't need to do this. So, my colleagues, my 
dear colleagues, if we are going to let the President, any President, 
on a whim, declare emergencies just because he or she can't get their 
way in the Congress, we have fundamentally changed the building blocks, 
these strong, proud building blocks that the Founding Fathers put into 
place.
  Second, the President's emergency declaration could cannibalize 
funding from worthy projects all over the country. We don't even know 
yet which projects he is planning to take the funds from. I ask my 
colleagues to think about that--what important initiatives in your 
State are on the Trump chopping block? What military project will the 
President cancel to fund the border wall Congress rejected?
  Third, and I made this point a little bit at the beginning, but it 
bears repeating. Far and away most importantly, the President's 
emergency declaration is a fundamental distortion of our constitutional 
order. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, not the 
President, and congressional intent on the border wall is clear. The 
President's wall has been before Congress several times, and not once 
has it garnered enough votes to merit consideration. In some cases it 
was with Republican votes. The President said that it was just the 
Democrats who blocked it. That is not true. There were Republican votes 
when the wall was on the floor for voting as well.
  As the great New Yorker, Justice Jackson from Jamestown, NY, 
observed, the President's legal authority in the realm of emergencies 
is at its very weakest when it goes against the expressed will of 
Congress. In case the will of Congress was not already clear, soon it 
will be made so. The obvious remedy for President Trump's outrageous 
and lawless declaration is for Congress to vote to terminate the state 
of emergency. The House will vote on such a resolution tomorrow, and 
the Senate will soon follow suit.
  I know my friends on the other side of the aisle fashion themselves 
supporters of the military, defenders of property rights, and stewards 
of the Constitution, as do Democrats. This vote on the resolution to 
terminate the state of emergency will test our fidelity to those 
principles.
  Congress should come together to reject in a bipartisan fashion--we 
have come together before in bipartisan ways. If ever there were one 
moment that cries out for bipartisan rejection of an overreach of 
power, this is it. We should reject this naked power grab, this 
defacement of our constitutional balance of powers, for what seem to be 
largely political purposes.

                          ____________________