[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RELATING TO A NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 
                             15, 2019--VETO

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, is the veto message with respect to 
S.J. Res. 54 at the desk?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. It is.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the veto message on S.J. 
Res. 54 be considered as having been read, that it be printed in the 
Record, and spread in full upon the Journal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The veto message is ordered to be printed in the Record as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
   I am returning herewith without my approval S.J. Res. 54, a joint 
resolution that would terminate the national emergency I declared in 
Proclamation 9844 of February 15, 2019, pursuant to the National 
Emergencies Act, regarding the ongoing crisis on our southern border. I 
am doing so for the same reasons I returned an identical resolution, 
H.J. Res. 46, to the House of Representatives without my approval on 
March 15, 2019.
  Proclamation 9844 has helped the Federal Government address the 
national emergency on our southern border. It has empowered my 
Administration's Government-wide strategy to counter large-scale 
unlawful migration and to respond to corresponding humanitarian 
challenges through focused application of every Constitutional and 
statutory authority at our disposal. It has also facilitated the 
military's ongoing construction of virtually insurmountable physical 
barriers along hundreds of miles of our southern border.
  The southern border, however, continues to be a major entry point for 
criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics to come into our 
country. As explained in Proclamation 9844, in my veto message 
regarding H.J. Res. 46, and in congressional testimony from multiple 
Administration officials, the ongoing crisis at the southern border 
threatens core national security interests. In addition, security 
challenges at the southern border exacerbate an ongoing humanitarian 
crisis that threatens the well-being of vulnerable populations, 
including women and children.
  In short, the situation on our southern border remains a national 
emergency, and our Armed Forces are still needed to help confront it.
  Like H.J. Res. 46, S.J. Res. 54 would undermine the Government's 
ability to address this continuing national emergency. It would, among 
other things, impair the Government's capacity to secure the Nation's 
southern borders against unlawful entry and to curb the trafficking and 
smuggling that fuels the present humanitarian crisis.
  S.J. Res. 54 is also inconsistent with other recent congressional 
actions. For example, the Congress, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 
manner, has provided emergency resources to address the crisis at the 
southern border. Additionally, the Congress has approved a budget 
framework that expressly preserves the emergency authorities my 
Administration is using to address the crisis.
  Proclamation 9844 was neither a new nor novel application of 
executive authority. Rather, it is the sixtieth Presidential invocation 
of the National Emergencies Act of 1976. It relies upon the same 
statutory authority used by both of the previous two Presidents to 
undertake more than 18 different military construction projects from 
2001 through 2013. And it has withstood judicial challenge in the 
Supreme Court.
  Earlier this year, I vetoed H.J. Res. 46 because it was a dangerous 
resolution that would undermine United States sovereignty and threaten 
the lives and safety of countless Americans. It was, therefore, my duty 
to return it to the House of Representatives without my approval. It is 
similarly my duty, in order to protect the safety and security of our 
Nation, to return S.J. Res. 54 to the Senate without my approval.
                                                     Donald J. Trump.  
                                     The White House, October 15, 2019.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 1:45 
p.m. tomorrow, the Senate vote on passage of S.J. Res. 54, 
notwithstanding the objections of the President to the contrary.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________