Next Week on the Hill: House Democrats Gear Up to Thwart Trump’s National Emergency Declaration

In response to President Trump’s southern border national emergency declaration, House Democrats are set to introduce a resolution of disapproval that would reject the President’s declaration. It’s the first move in a series of potential legislative and legal maneuvers by Congressional Democrats to block President Trump from circumventing Congress to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The resolution is expected to easily pass the House and could end up attracting the support of some Republican Senators — such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) — who have been critical of the national emergency declaration.

Meanwhile, voters in North Carolina’s 9^th Congressional District are set to head to the polls again after the 2018 House race was marred by credible allegations of election fraud. Yesterday, North Carolina's State Board of Elections ordered a new election in the NC-09, setting up a likely rematch between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready — both of whom called for a new election prior to the Board’s decision. A date for the new election has yet to be officially announced.

Lawmakers will resume legislative business next Monday afternoon. On the floor, the House has queued up a pair of measures aimed at strengthening the nation’s gun background check system. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R. 8) and the Enhanced Background Checks Act (H.R. 1112) are both expected to pass the House easily next week while their future in the GOP-controlled Senate and White House remains uncertain. In the upper chamber, Senators are set to resume consideration of a bill (S. 311) that would prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.