Members Of Congress Join State Lawmakers For ‘Dueling’ Addresses About Border Security

The Wednesday press conferences were a response to the Texas Senate’s recent resolution that declared an emergency at the southern border.

By Alexandra HartApril 18, 2019 6:54 am,

Lawmakers held two different press conferences about border security Wednesday – one by state and national Democrats, the other by state and national Republicans. During each press conference, lawmakers called for bipartisan cooperation on the issue, but neither group seemed to be communicating with the other.

Jeremy Wallace covered the dueling press conferences for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, and says the events came as a result of the Texas Senate resolution that passed two weeks ago, declaring a crisis at the Texas-Mexico border. Wallace says politicians on both sides were “catching up on old business.”

“That resolution had caused some consternation, obviously, with Senate Democrats, particularly because they hadn’t been told … that this was gonna happen that day,” Wallace says. “Of course, they opposed it, and didn’t think it was an appropriate use of the Senate’s time.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– How national political figures from Texas joined state lawmakers at the press conferences

– How Democrats criticized Republican lawmakers for not opposing President Trump on border issues

– Why Republican John Cornyn says the Democrats’ criticism is inaccurate

Written by Caroline Covington.