Washington, 15 mar (EFE).- El presidente, Donald Trump, firmó este viernes el veto a la resolución aprobada por el Congreso que insta a la Casa Blanca a poner fin a la emergencia nacional que decretó en febrero para financiar la construcción del muro en la frontera con México.
“Hoy veto esta resolución. El Congreso tiene la libertad de aprobarla y yo tengo la obligación de vetarla”, sostuvo el mandatario instantes antes de rubricar el documento durante una ceremonia que tuvo lugar en el Despacho Oval.
Trump argumentó que cuenta con el “abrumador” apoyo de los votantes republicanos y que tanto el Senado como la Cámara de Representantes, que aprobó de manera unánime esa resolución la semana pasada, habían emitido un voto “contrario a la realidad” al aprobar “una resolución imprudente”.
El mandatario volvió a insistir en la necesidad de ampliar el muro que separa el país de México debido a la cantidad “de criminales” que entran por la frontera sur de su país, en lo que volvió a calificar de “invasión”.
“La gente odia la palabra invasión, pero eso es lo que es”, recalcó.
La resolución pasó a la Casa Blanca tras ser aprobada ayer por la Cámara Alta en una votación de 59 votos a favor y 41 en contra, en la que doce senadores republicanos apoyaron la moción.
Ante la imposibilidad de que el Congreso aprobara los fondos que deseaba para el proyecto del muro, Trump firmó el pasado 15 de febrero una declaración de emergencia nacional, una medida extraordinaria que permite a los presidentes acceder temporalmente a una potestad especial para hacer frente a una crisis.
Por ese motivo, el mandatario aseguró que se podría evitar que esta situación si los legisladores cambiaran de postura a la hora de pactar el próximo presupuesto federal: “En quince minutos podríamos alcanzar un acuerdo”, sostuvo.
Con la emergencia nacional, Trump pretende reunir 6.600 millones de dólares desviados de distintas partidas ya aprobadas por el Congreso, que se sumarían a otros 1.375 otorgados por el poder legislativo para construir la barrera fronteriza.
Trump vetoes bill rejecting his border emergency declaration
Washington, Mar 15 (efe-epa).- President Donald Trump signed this Friday his veto of the resolution passed by both houses of the US Congress rejecting his resort to a national emergency declaration to obtain funds for the wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico.
“I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” the president said moments before signing the document during a ceremony at the Oval Office.
Trump said he has the overwhelming support of Republican voters and that both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which rejected his national emergency declaration on Feb. 26, had voted in favor of a “dangerous” and “reckless” resolution.
The president again insisted on the need to finish the wall separating the US from Mexico, because “our porous southern border continues to be a magnet for lawless migration and criminals and has created a border security and humanitarian crisis that endangers every American.”
He said “people hate the word ‘invasion,’ but that’s what it is.”
The resolution was sent to the White House after being approved Thursday by the Senate.
The 59-41 vote in the Republican-controlled upper house came just over two weeks after the measure was approved by a sizable 245-182 majority in the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
A dozen Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues in opposing the emergency declaration. But it is extremely unlikely that either the House or the Senate will muster the two-thirds majority necessary to override Trump’s veto.
Trump declared the national emergency on Feb. 15 with the goal of bypassing Congress and securing billions of dollars in additional funding to build the border wall.
The White House says that Trump plans to use around $8 billion to build the wall, including just under $1.38 billion from a Homeland Security appropriations bill that Congress passed on Feb. 14.
The remaining $6.6 billion in funds is to be shifted from other programs through a combination of executive actions and the national emergency declaration.
Trump’s plan is to use $3.5 billion from the Defense Department’s military construction budget, $2.5 billion from that department’s drug interdiction program and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund to supplement the funding approved by Congress.
Trump’s pledge to build a wall to put a stop to illegal immigration is considered priority No. 1 by his core group of supporters and was a key factor in his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election.
Democrats, however, have blasted Trump’s plans to move money around without congressional approval and say there is no emergency on the US’s southern border.
Several Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, say invoking a national emergency to build the wall creates a dangerous precedent because a future Democratic president would feel free to take similar action in the future if his or her priorities were blocked by Congress.