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Funding for a border security wall took expected governmental steps last week following President Donald Trump’s National Emergency Declaration.

The declaration would make it possible for the president to divert military funding to build a border wall on the country’s southwestern border with Mexico. The House Democrats passed a resolution to disapprove of the president’s declaration and last Thursday, the Senate Republicans also voted to disapprove the measure. All three of Iowa’s Republican elected lawmakers, Senators Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst and Representative Steve King voted against the disapproval resolutions in their respective chambers.

King was disappointed to see both the House and Senate disapprove of Trump’s declaration citing that he has “emergency powers and statutory authority” to redirect funding when he declares an emergency, according to the National Emergencies Act of 1976. “It’s been used at least 50 times without it being litigated, without consequence, without significant objection. So this became a political thing rather than it was a matter of law or constitution.”

Then on Friday, Trump vetoed Congress’ disapproval resolution and now it goes back to Congress, which King believes there isn’t the votes needed to overnight the veto. King describes what he thinks will happen next if Congress fails to overnight the presidential veto.

“I expect that they will try to go to court and try to litigate this and it’s likely to go all the way to the (US) Supreme Court, in which case, the Supreme Court needs to read the (US) Constitution and the law. And it’s all very clear, the president has the authority, the constitutional authority, he has the laws that are on his side, his has the statutory authority. So I think he’s going to generate eight or so billion dollars and we’re going to see quite a lot of wall get built over the next year or two.”

To hear more from King, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.