Texas’ GOP lawmakers upbeat about wall
They’re confident about funding; Democrats remain skeptical.
President Donald Trump last week pulled a $1.4 billion request to Congress to build initial sections of a border wall in a must-pass funding bill after Democrats balked. But Texas’ Republican lawmakers say the wall is still on track to be built.
“There is money that will go towards securing the border,” said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The funding will go toward building access roads, repairing existing fencing, technology and personnel, he said. “It’s a start to building the wall.”
But there is also funding that the Department of Homeland Security has already set aside for the current bidding process to build prototypes for a 30-foot concrete wall or one made of “other” material.
Bids were submitted last month. More than 200 companies registered as vendors, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Carlos Diaz said the selection of the firms to build the prototypes would be done this summer.
“This is the first installment,” McCaul said of this year’s fund-
ing. “It will be focused on technology.”
While Democrats are largely opposed to a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, there is support in Hidalgo County to extend the levee walls on the Rio Grande 28 miles from the existing 20-mile stretch where the wall would do double duty as flood control. Asked why funding for the levee walls was not included, McCaul said, “Schumer objected.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., refused to agree to a stopgap funding measure that included any money for the wall this fiscal year. The border wall was Trump’s signature issue during the presidential campaign. He said he will seek the additional funding for it in September.
“I think what should happen is that the administration and Congress should come up with a comprehensive border security plan” that would include the wall, said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has called for a multi-layered approach to border security that would focus on additional infrastructure, technology and personnel.
His counterpart, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed a different funding mechanism to build the wall: money seized from Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, now in U.S. custody. He has $14 billion in assets that the government is pursuing as part of the criminal case against him.
“Fourteen billion dollars will go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and hinder the illegal flow of drugs, weapons and individuals across our southern border,” Cruz said.
What does Cornyn think about Cruz’s idea? “I’m fine with that,” he said with a smile.
Republican members of Congress who represent portions of Travis County were confident that the wall would be built.
“I do think they’ll start this year,” said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio. “They’re not going to pay for the wall all at once. I support a structure along the border. We need to reduce the number of illegals.”
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, said: “I think it’ll get built. I’ve always been a boots on the ground guy. We have to secure our border.”
The point man in the House is U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Asked about the funding for the wall, Carter said, “I put it in; (Trump) took it out.” Asked if he supported the wall, the Texan said, “I support the president.”
Democrats have strong views, too.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who calls the wall “a folly,” said: “Trump vowed Mexico would pay for this unnecessary boondoggle, and now Sen. Cruz proposes one Mexican pay for a wall that likely costs over $20 billion. Neither will happen.” The cost, he said, will fall “to the American taxpayer.”
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who calls the wall divisive, nonetheless backs the 28 miles of levee walls on the border in Hidalgo County. A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Cuellar said: “There’s no money for fencing, a wall or the levee fence this year. That will be an issue we will address in fiscal year ’18.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, has more immediate concerns. He is in the final stages of deciding whether to challenge Cruz next year, with a decision likely early this week. (U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, has already announced he’s running.) But the wall is on his mind, too. With a roll of his eyes, Castro dismissed Cruz’s cost plan as “half-baked.”
“His approach to policymaking is all gimmicks,” Castro said of Cruz.