Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview airing Thursday ahead of a Senate vote on a resolution seeking to block President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency, called on Republicans to back Trump, saying a vote against the emergency order is a denial of the crisis at the nation's southern border.
“A vote against President Trump's national emergency is a vote against border security," Pence told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" co-anchor Pete Hegseth, who interviewed him from Harpers Ferry, W.Va. where he was touring a Customs and Border Patrol training facility.
"A vote against the president's national emergency declaration is a vote to deny the humanitarian and security crisis that's happening at our southern border," he added, noting that under the National Emergencies Act, Trump has the authority to declare the matter an emergency.
"Vote down the resolution of disapproval," he urged Republicans. "Stand with the president and stand for border security. That's what the American people want."
It will take four Republicans to pass the bill blocking Trump's declaration. The president said Thursday he is prepared to use his first veto since taking office to reject the measure if it is passed.
"It is undeniable we have a crisis on the southern border," said Pence. "Democrats continued to say it's a manufactured crisis but the facts tell the story."
He also noted that the money Trump had requested from Congress before the government shutdown, which is now being appropriated through his emergency declaration, is all money the Department of Homeland Security had said was needed to build a barrier in 10 areas of high-density population.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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