$8.6 billion for wall already gets a ‘no’
Congressional Democrats reject it before White House can even ask
Congressional Democrats refused President Donald Trump’s newest request for border wall funding even before the White House officially made it.
In response to media reports Sunday that the president plans to ask Congress for an additional $8.6 billion for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. – who refused to approve $5.7 billion in border wall funding despite a record 35-day government shutdown
– made it clear that they would not approve the money.
“President Trump hurt millions of Ameri- cans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico. Congress refused to fund his wall, and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement Sunday in response to the story first reported by Reuters.
“The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson,” they said, arguing the “money would better be spent” on issues such as education.
“Let’s get this straight: billions of dollars for a border wall is a waste of money,” tweeted Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who hopes to unseat Trump in the 2020 election.
The request will be included in the president’s 2020 budget proposal, which he is expected to submit Monday, Reuters reported.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow did not dispute the report in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
When asked whether he thought there would be another partisan fight over the $8.6 billion, Kudlow said, “I suppose there will be.”
“I would just say that the whole issue of the wall and border security is of paramount importance,” Kudlow said. “We have a crisis down there. I think the president has made that case very effectively.”