Top White House officials claim Democrats won’t come around to border security
Senior White House aides, not surprisingly, are doing some messaging after President Trump’s address, by going after Democrats.
Top White House officials are claiming that Democrats aren’t willing to come around on the issue of border security. Democrats, of course, have voted for border security funds just not for the wall the President wants.
White House officials are also saying Democrats made a mistake tonight describing the situation at the border as a “manufactured crisis” — a sign that’s how the White House plans to frame the debate after tonight’s address, as they fan out to do TV appearances in the coming days.
Here’s how one official described it: “The President wants common sense solutions.” Trump said his proposals are “common sense” in his address.
Trump wrongly claims Democrats won’t fund border security
President Trump claimed that “the federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security.”
It’s not true that Democrats oppose funding for border security, they just aren’t willing to meet Trump’s demand for more than $5 billion in wall funding. Congressional Democratic leaders have offered funding for roughly $1.3 billion for border security in the current shutdown fight.
That offer remains on the table.
Border security has been a cornerstone of Democratic immigration proposals for years. The Obama-backed comprehensive immigration bill in 2013, which passed with unanimous Democratic support, would have added up to 40,000 Border Patrol agents and deploy more than $3 billion for technology upgrades at the border. House Republicans refused to vote on the proposal and it never reached Obama’s desk.
House Democrats voted last week to approve a stop-gap funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that would not allocate new wall funding, but would maintain the current $1.3 billion in border security money. Last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a DHS funding bill for fiscal year 2019 on a bipartisan basis that would allocate $1.6 billion for roughly 65 miles of fencing in the Rio Grande Valley, but the full Senate has not yet approved that measure.
Democrats: Trump is choosing fear over facts
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her response to President Trump’s speech, said the President has chosen to use misinformation and “even malice” to get his message across during the shutdown.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer echoed that sentiment.
“Most presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes. This President just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his Administration,” he said.
“Throughout this debate and his presidency — President Trump has appealed to fear, not facts. Division, not unity.”
President Trump claimed…
