Senate Democrats Threaten Paying for Trump’s Wall May Force Government Shut Down

Defunding Planned Parenthood Also a ‘Poison Pill’

Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate are telling Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he and other GOP leaders need to avoid demanding funding for President Trump’s border wall or any type of “poison pill” rider on the budget bill as conditions for funding the U.S. government. 

A letter sent Monday, according to the AP, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and fellow Democratic Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), warned, “We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of (wall) funding in a must-pass appropriations bill that is needed for the Republican majority in control of the Congress to avert a government shutdown so early in President Trump’s administration.” 

The letter goes on to raise the point that the president had made a campaign promise to build the wall but without delivering a satisfactory means by which to pay for it other than his claims that Mexico would pay for it. The President “has not detailed where he thinks the wall should be built, how his plan will be constructive and how Mexico will pay for it despite his insistence that Mexico will fund the border wall.” The government of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had responded to Trump’s claims with Peña-Nieto delivering a fiery address at the end of January, in which he said his country will never pay for the wall on its northern border, and added that “Mexico offers and demands respect.”

Schumer, and his fellow Democrats, implicitly also threaten a filibuster showdown in the letter which would result in a potential government shutdown if the GOP attempt to attach the wall or other controversial Trump agenda items to the must-do legislation. The Democrats drew a line at such items as defunding Planned Parenthood or anything in the omnibus government spending bill that would “roll back protections for our veterans, environment, consumers, and workers and prohibit funds for critical healthcare services for women through Planned Parenthood.”

“We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of such funding in a must-pass appropriations bill that is needed for the Republican majority in control of the Congress to avert a government shutdown so early in President Trump’s Administration,” wrote Schumer.

According to a White House source, cuts to the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and TSA budgets are needed as sources for funding the president’s wall.

A Congressional source told NCRM that the battle-lines being drawn over the Republican budget process also mirrors Democrats frustrations with the GOP over the Affordable Care Act repeal and replace efforts coupled with concerns over the draft proposals on the budget being considered by the administration. 

The White House FY2018 budget request proposal for example, dramatically increases spending for the Defense Department to around $54 million, however, it rolls back spending for the EPA, the Transportation Safety Administration, and a $1.3 billion cut to the US Coast Guard, which would negatively impact the Coast Guard’s missions which include border security. 

A Coast Guard official told NCRM Monday that the service’s 2016 seizures [at sea] of 201 metric tons of cocaine and 52,613 pounds of marijuana, amounted to more than three times the quantity of cocaine seized by the U.S. Border & Customs Protection agents last year. The official also indicated that Coast Guard units detained 6,346 undocumented migrants.

Brody Levesque is the Chief Political Correspondent for The New Civil Rights Movement.
You may contact Brody at Brody.Levesque@thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

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Image by Senate Democrats via Flickr and a CC license