(UPDATE, 1pm: Rep. Kirkpatrick’s office confirms to Arizona’s Politics that the Congresswoman has co-sponsored the resolution, although it was shortly after the deadline that had been set by prime sponsor Joaquin Castro and House leadership. The co-sponsor list will be updated on Monday, and Kirkpatrick’s name will be on it. Rep. Kirkpatrick remains opposed to the President’s use of an emergency declaration to divert taxpayer monies to unnecessary construction of new border walls.)
Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick is one of a handful of Democrats who did not timely co-sponsor the resolution to reverse President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a border wall.
The southern Arizona Congresswoman is the only Democratic member of Arizona’s House delegation to not sign on late, and 225 of the House’s 235 Democrats are co-sponsors. (Utah Republican Justin Amash is the only Republican co-sponsoring the Castro resolution that will be voted on on Tuesday.)
Kirkpatrick – who was near the border during the week – previously compared Trump’s emergency declaration to the boy who cried wolf. She has not yet responded to Arizona’s Politics’ request for comment on why she failed to sign on.
Here is the one-sentence text of the resolution terminating the national emergency. There reportedly are several Republicans in the Senate who will also support the resolution. However, it is not certain whether either house would have the necessary votes to override the promised Presidential veto.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared by the finding of the President on February 15, 2019, in Proclamation 9844 (84 Fed. Reg. 4949) is hereby terminated.
This article was written without any contact with the Congresswoman’s office. Had the author done so, he/she would have learned that the Congresswoman is, in fact, a co-sponsor of the legislation. Since many people get their “news” from blogs and other social media platforms, it behooves all of us to do a fact check before we write or comment. Congresswoman Kirkpatrick has made numerous public statements about the President’s National Emergency declaration. In everyone of those comments, she has opposed the action. She has called it a fiction and a power grab by the president. She believes it is an unconstitutional action and joins with her colleagues in the House in opposition. Her most recent public statement was captured in the Sierra Vista Herald article on February 20, 2019. When asked about the president’s action she called it the presidents fictional narrative. She has long been a supporter of immigration reform and protection of Dreamers. In fact, her first bill was in support of Dreamers. Ron Barber, District Director, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick
That is an incorrect assumption, Ron. We reached out on Sat morning, when the co-sponsor list was made public. (Earlier in the week, the deadline to be an original co-sponsor had been set for Thursday, and was communicated publicly.) The original article did note her earlier public opposition. I received a return call from your office Saturday afternoon, got the explanation that the deadline had been missed, and immediately updated the article.
As of noon Monday (ET), Congress.gov still shows the rest of the delegation’s Dems as the co-sponsors. I have no reason to believe that it will not be updated at some point, but the article was accurate as written and then as updated. It is unfortunate that the deadline was missed (and that once that miss was realized, a tweet/release/whatever was not made before the original list became public).
According to Kirkpatrick staffer Billy Kovacs: “Hi it’s Billy Kovacs Rep. Kirkpatrick’s Outreach Director. Ann is a co-sponsor of the bill. The release didn’t add her for some reason. Her name will be added when they vote next week.”
Rep. Kirkpatrick was not listed in the public record as an original co-sponsor because the deadline was missed, not because of an error elsewhere. We updated the article as soon as the Congresswoman’s office returned our message and indicated that she co-sponsored after the original deadline.
This seems to be not true. Check it out.
Greer, it was true as of publication. The Congresswoman missed the deadline to be an original co-sponsor, and signed up a day late. We reached out to her office shortly before publication – yes, it was a Saturday. We updated once we received a return call Saturday afternoon. Thanks!
Does she think we will not remember how she voted when she runs again? I am disgusted with her. Might as well forget it. She is an ” occasional democrat”. Hope she will be primaried and get a real DEMOCRAT.
Sanda, the Congresswoman is now a co-sponsor. As it turned out, she had simply missed the deadline to be an original co-sponsor. We updated the article once her office returned our message and confirmed that she signed up late. (Also, the article – original and updated – did note that she had previously spoken out strongly against the emergency declaration.) Thanks!
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