Cotton talks about Mexico wall, Confederate monuments
LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday he is hopeful that Congress backs President Trump’s plan to build a wall on the country’s southern border and also says local communities should decide what to do with Confederate monuments.
Arkansas’ junior senator spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday after presenting the survivors of a World War II veteran with medals he had earned. The family of George Anderson of Black Rock met with Cotton in Little Rock.
Highlights from the conversation with AP:
On how the president is doing
“Better than the media reports. Obviously, we haven’t accomplished as much as we might have hoped but it’s only seven months into this Congress. That’s why you have a two-year Congress. I have high hopes going forward we’ll be able to reform our tax code and fix some of our regulatory problems.”
On a US-Mexico border wall
“I hope that Congress realizes that we need a wall on our southern border. Walls work. They’re demonstrated to work everywhere they have been put in place. The San Diego sector of our border and the southern border of Israel. … around your backyard.”
On Trump and the media
“Most Arkansans, I don’t think, focus on the back and forth between Donald Trump and the media. They’re focused on what matters in their lives. They’d like to have a little more money in their pocket at the end of the month, have a little bit more and affordable health care. Make sure their kids are getting an education and their streets are safe.”
On Confederate monuments
“I think this is a question best considered by local communities. … I think that it is a debate that should occur. I wouldn’t support the kind of midnight teardown of statues or monuments because I don’t think that serves the civic purpose of considering our history and thinking about whatever those monuments stand for. …
“In general, I think it’s best to keep our history in front of us and learn from it so we don’t repeat some of the mistakes we have made as individuals or as a people in the past. An irony of the media attention that some of these things are receiving as of late is that people have gone by them for decades but didn’t know what they were.”