Republicans could be hurt if President Donald Trump declares a national emergency over border security, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Wednesday.
"We have to be careful about endorsing broad uses of executive power," Rubio told CNBC. "I'm not prepared to endorse that right now."
He added the president has to keep his campaign promise he would build a wall along the nation's southern border, but declaring the situation a national emergency would set up a dangerous precedent.
"If today, the national emergency is border security . . . tomorrow the national emergency might be climate change," Rubio said.
Further, a national emergency declaration would probably bring legal hurdles, as it could allow Trump the ability to use the military to build a wall instead of getting Congressional approval for its funding.
Rubio also said he would have liked Trump, during his Oval Office address Tuesday, to clarify the $5.7 billion he wants for border security funding would not be for a wall or for a loan, but instead would be "$5 billion to fund the top 10 projects on a border security program by the experts and the people in charge of doing that."
Rubio said he does support Trump's call for a wall, because he would agree with funding "anything that makes the border more secure."
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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