Press Releases
Sewell co-sponsors measure to revoke national emergency declaration
February 22, 2019
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell (AL-07) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20) on Friday filed a resolution of disapproval to block President Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall.
“The President’s emergency declaration is an overreach of executive power. He himself said he did not ‘need to’ declare an emergency at the border,” Sewell said. “The real national emergency is not at our southern border – it is in our rural areas where hospitals are struggling to keep their doors open; it is in Lowndes and Wilcox counties, where residents lack basic water resources; it is in communities across the country that continue to be devastated by the opioid crisis. President Trump’s border wall is not a national emergency.”
A vote is scheduled on the resolution – which is sponsored by more than 220 members in the House of Representatives – for Tuesday, February 26, 2019. After the measure is passed by the House, it will be sent to the Senate as a privileged resolution, meaning it must be considered on the Senate floor within 18 days of House passage.