Rep. Tom Reed said Friday he agrees with President Donald Trump that there is an emergency at the nation's southern border, but he thinks Congress should be co-equal with the president when it comes to declaring a national emergency.
“Congress has given tremendous authority to the president" with the National Emergencies Act," the New York Republican told CNN "New Day" anchor Alisyn Camerota. "When we gave that authority away as Congress, because congressional leaders don’t want to have the hard votes on record, the president has the authority to make these determinations and act."
Reed said he did see the crisis at the border, but now he's concerned about why the authority for a national emergency has been delegated to the president.
"Congress needs to take that authority back so that the president doesn't have this broad discretion that even this president and future presidents will have if we do not act," said Reed.
He and other lawmakers have proposed a bipartisan measure to allow Congress the opportunity to play a role in declaring a national emergency.
"We've got 31 national emergencies on the books from the (Jimmy) Carter administration and beyond, that are still there because the president has just acted," said Reed. "Congress has abdicated its role. It needs to step up and take its authority back."
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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