House set to vote to end Trump’s wall ‘emergency’

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters): The US House of Representatives votes on Tuesday on a resolution to terminate President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

House Democrats introduced the resolution last week, challenging Trump's assertion that he could take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build the wall.

The resolution is expected to sail easily through the Democratic-controlled House. Action then moves to the Republican-majority Senate, where the measure's future is uncertain even though it only requires a simple majority to pass.

While Tuesday's vote will be another chapter in a long-running fight between Trump and Democrats over border security and immigration policy, it also will be a test of constitutional separation of powers, as it is the House and Senate that primarily dictate spending priorities, not the president.

The No. 2 House Democrat, Representative Steny Hoyer, said at a press conference on Monday that he had traveled to the US-Mexico border twice in the past few weeks.

"What I concluded is there is no crisis at the border. The issue ... will be whether there is a crisis of our constitutional adherence," Hoyer said.

At least two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have told the media they are likely to vote for the measure. But at least another two Republican votes would be needed if the resolution is to pass that chamber, assuming all Democrats and two independents back it.