Rand Paul Says ‘At Least’ 10 Republican Senators Will Vote Against Trump’s Emergency Declaration

Sen. Rand Paul will vote against President Trump’s national emergency declaration. He explained his decision in an op-ed.

He said he would lose his “political soul” if he refused to treat Trump’s executive actions like Obama’s.

“In September of 2014, I had these words to say: ‘The president acts like he’s a king. He ignores the Constitution. He arrogantly says, ‘If Congress will not act, then I must.’ Donald J. Trump agreed with me when he said in November 2014 that President Barack Obama couldn’t make a deal on immigration so ‘now he has to use executive action, and this is a very, very dangerous thing that should be overridden easily by the Supreme Court, he wrote'”

“I would literally lose my political soul if I decided to treat President Trump different than President Obama,” he continued. “(Although, I’ll note, not one Democrat criticized Obama for his executive orders.)”

Regardless, I must vote how my principles dictate. My oath is to the Constitution, not to any man or political party. I stand with the president often, and I do so with a loud voice. Today, I think he’s wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits. I understand his frustration. Dealing with Congress can be pretty difficult sometimes. But Congress appropriates money, and his only constitutional recourse, if he does not like the amount they appropriate, is to veto the bill.

I look forward to working for a constitutional way to deal with our border security issue.

That makes 4 GOP senators voting against the action…OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Paul is now saying that “at least” 10 other Republican senators will vote against Trump’s declaration.

“By my count, I’ve had at least 10 people coming up to me saying they will vote to disapprove on this,” Pauls told reporters, referring to GOP colleagues.