The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Elderberry on November 09, 2018, 10:52:55 pm
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Houston Chronicle by Kevin Diaz Nov. 9, 2018
Democrats taking the reins in the U.S. House next year are girding for a fight to block the outgoing Republican majority from granting President Donald Trump the money he wants for a wall on the Mexican border.
After midterm elections that put Democrats in control of the House in January, the stakes have increased sharply in a year-end spending battle over wall funding for the 2019 fiscal year, which began October 1.
Unable to strike a deal in September, lawmakers put off until December 7 — after the midterm elections — a deadline for the next year’s appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security and a half-dozen other government agencies.
That has now put money for Trump’s border wall plan squarely in the center of the action in the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, which starts when lawmakers return to Washington next week. While Republicans see the next month as perhaps their last chance to make good on Trump’s biggest 2016 campaign promise, Democrats say Tuesday’s midterm election was a repudiation of the president’s tough rhetoric on the border and immigration.
“I’ve served in Congress long enough to know that the Republicans have spoken most loudly about using the lame duck for agendas that have not been confirmed by the American people,†said Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “The turnout in the vote that caused Democrats to win the House is evidence that the message of demonizing immigrants, using the Central American caravan to scare the American people, did not work.â€
Once the Democrats take control in January, the GOP’s clout will be significantly reduced in the House, where all spending bills begin. At the same time, some newly-empowered Democrats in Texas — which shares more than 1,000 miles of unwalled border with Mexico — will gain sway.
“We don’t want a wall,†said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. Cuellar, whose district covers the border area south of Laredo, said he has met with Democratic leaders since Tuesday’s election to deliver that message.
“We want security, cameras, sensors, personnel, the Border Patrol,†Cuellar said. “We need to secure the border. Nobody wants an open border. It’s just how we do it.â€
More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Trump-GOP-press-lame-duck-Congress-for-border-13378524.php (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Trump-GOP-press-lame-duck-Congress-for-border-13378524.php)
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Not going to happen. I blame Ryan and the do nothing Congress for no wall.
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Not going to happen. I blame Ryan and the do nothing Congress for no wall.
Maybe they can repeal bammycare, too/s.
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Not going to happen. I blame Ryan and the do nothing Congress for no wall.
I blame Trump. Because he could have forced the issue. He could have had the deal all he had to do was say no to bloated spending bill. Two times. One after he said he would not sign another.
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I blame Trump. Because he could have forced the issue. He could have had the deal all he had to do was say no to bloated spending bill. Two times. One after he said he would not sign another.
Pres. Trump is 1 person. 535 Members of Congress didn't listen to the voice of the majority who wanted a wall.
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Pres. Trump is 1 person. 535 Members of Congress didn't listen to the voice of the majority who wanted a wall.
True but Trump is in control of the reigns. He holds the pen. He said he wouldn't sign the last spending bill and then he did. That is why we still don't have a wall.