At his Feb. 21 Salt Lake town hall meeting, Rep. Chris Stewart articulated what he described as his clear and consistent position on the president’s emergency declaration. The president, he said, had overreached by making an end-run around the legislative branch and issuing an emergency order to build his border wall. Stewart worried that this tactic could be used by both parties and could, in the future, disadvantage his own party.
When a constituent asked whether he would support the joint resolution rescinding the president’s order, Stewart said that he would, with one important qualification. He would vote “yes” only if the resolution was “clean” and did not contain extraneous language that would take him outside his comfort zone.