The president has once again tied together the issues of funding the government and erecting a border wall. As members of the Senate return to Washington toward the end of the fiscal year, the goal of passing legislation before the clock runs out just got a bit more complicated.
“Congress has this appropriation process for the fiscal year,” says Maria Recio, Washington correspondent for the Austin American-Statesman. “And they are behind as usual I’m afraid. The fiscal year ends September 30. So there is a race to get the bills done and President Trump has injected himself into the process by basically threatening to shutdown the government unless the border wall is funded. He wants a significant increase in border wall funding.”
Recio says the problem is funding the border wall is not just a stand-alone issue. It often comes wrapped up with regulations having to do with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
“So far there hasn’t been a middle ground that anyone can agree with,” she says.
“The administration wants this big border protection package that Democrats, and some Republicans as well, just consider too extreme,”Recio says.
Recio says that there have been many attempts in the past by both congressional houses to pass legislation providing as much as $25 billion for the border wall.
“The problem is, again, that it’s not a stand-alone. It is always tied to other things that Democrats and some Republican were willing to go with, even with the $25 billion for the wall in return to path of citizenship for DACA. And not enough republicans would agree to that,” Recio says.
Written by Kristen Cabrera.
