House fails to override Trump veto on wall emergency

WASHINGTON -- The US House of Representatives failed on Tuesday to override President Donald Trump's veto of a congressional resolution blocking his declaration of a national emergency at the nation's southern border with Mexico.

The lower chamber, controlled by Democrats, voted 248-181, short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override.

The national emergency declaration, which Trump made last month in a bid to get funding for the construction of a border wall along the US-Mexico border, would allow the president to shift billions of US dollars from military construction projects to fulfilling his signature campaign promise.

Congress sent a resolution to the White House this month terminating the emergency declaration, which Trump vetoed almost immediately.