A group of Republican senators pitched the vice president on a deal to spare the president the embarrassment of having his national emergency voted down in the GOP-controlled Senate.
The offer involves the president backing proposals that would curb his power to railroad Congress with future emergencies. They presented it as a way to preserve Trump's border crisis declaration and save him from having to exercise his first veto.
Republican senators put it to Mike Pence in a meeting he took at the request of Sen. Thom Tillis on Tuesday, a senior administration official told DailyMail.com. Pence pledged to take the deal back to the president but made no other commitments.
A group of Republican senators pitched the vice president on a deal to spare the president the embarrassment of having his national emergency voted down in the GOP -controlled Senate
Republican senators put it to Mike Pence in a meeting he took at the request of Sen. Thom Tillis (pictured) a source said
If the president denies Republicans their deal, the president runs the risk of having his border emergency overturned
A spokesperson for Trump could not immediately say, in response, whether the president would be willing to meet lawmakers halfway by acceding to their offer.
He admitted this week that he needs roughly $8.6 billion to complete the structure, in addition to the money the national emergency will provide him.
Trump asked for the supplement to the $8 billion he's cobbled together so far in his 2020 budget. He won't get it from Democrats in Congress and could kneecap himself by agreeing to new restraints on his emergency powers.
If he denies Republicans their deal, the president runs the risk of having his border emergency overturned.
He's facing a revolt from within his own party on the emergency that will come before the Senate this Thursday, just before lawmakers make their escape from Washington.
Opponents of the emergency have the votes to pass a resolution terminating it. And they're coming closer to a veto-proof majority, according to senators in the president's party.
Up to a dozen could break with the president on the emergency, Sen. Lindsay Graham has said, after 13 Republicans did so when the resolution came before the House. He predicted the resolution would have fewer than the 66 needed, however to overturn a presidential veto.
Sen. Rand Paul put the number closer to ten, yet said there could be more, after he announced his own plans to support the resolution. That was a week ago.
Pence has met with Republican several times on Capitol Hill several times since Trump's emergency declaration. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has also briefed them.
