Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) sees the possibility of President Trump declaring a national emergency over the funding of his proposed border wall in order to halt another government shutdown.
“I think what the president is saying is if we don’t compromise — and he’s put compromise on the table, real compromise, things the Democrats want — but if we can’t get compromise out of Speaker Pelosi and get to a good solution, then he would be forced to go the national emergency route,” said Hoeven
Hoeven did concede, however, that the best route forward would be a bill passed by both chambers
Nevertheless, Hoeven says that whatever solution passed will have to have wall funding. “It needs to include personnel, technology, and funding for a border barrier,” said Hoeven.
In recent days you have seen a change in language from a “wall” to a “barrier.”
“The best solution is one where congress puts together a funding package for border security, including all three components as I’ve laid out, that is acceptable to the house, the senate and the president. That’s the best solution,” said Hoeven.
Hoeven is one of many lawmakers who has been working on a bipartisan budget deal before the February 15 deadline, but the president has been signaling that he may not give the committee the time to complete his work, even teasing that his State of the Union speech on Tuesday could be “very exciting” in that regard.
“You’ll hear the State of the Union and then you’ll see what happens right after the State of the Union,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
Watch the full interview below:
Image via screen capture from video source.