President Trump’s pursuit of additional border wall funding in his fiscal 2020 budget proposal will only lead to another government shut down, warned Democratic leaders on Sunday.
Trump harmed millions when he “recklessy” shut down the government in pursuit of funds to build an expensive border wall, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a joint statement. But Congress refused and the president was “forced to admit defeat” and reopen the government, they added.
“The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again,” they warned. “We hope he learned his lesson.”
The Democratic power duo were responding to reports earlier Sunday that the president will seek $8.6 billion in additional funding in his fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“At a time when our country faces challenges about jobs for the future, this money would better be spent on rebuilding America, and on education and workforce development for jobs for the 21st Century,” the two Democratic leaders stated.
There was skepticism too on the GOP side that Trump would get exactly what he asks for in his budget proposal.
Asked if Trump will get what he wants in border wall funding in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, replied, “Well no president gets exactly what they want.”
But Barrasso added that his colleague, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who is the chairman of the budget panel, is “committed to border security.”
The president’s budget request is slated to be released by the White House on Monday.
