Washington—President Trump was elected on the promise of securing our nation’s borders. Since December, Congressional Democrats have focused their energy on one thing: denying the President his request for border security and increased detention capabilities. Their refusal to compromise in any way is summed up by Speaker Pelosi’s “not one dollar” promise—a promise to spend zero dollars on improving control of our border. This promise resulted in a partial shutdown of the government which only ended when the President yielded to the Democrats’ commitment to finally negotiate on border security if he signed a three-week continuing resolution. That negotiation has now ended and while it does contain $1.3 billion for new border wall funding, it is still woefully short of the necessary resources to get the job done.
Passage of this bill in no way excuses Congress from its responsibility to protect the southern border and put an end to the security and humanitarian crisis. This leaves the Administration no choice but to use all the legal powers available to the President to continue increasing our nation’s border security while working with Congress to finish the job.
Three weeks ago, Heritage Action said that “the President and Congress should keep their promises to the American people to finally secure our nation’s southern border, and Americans should hold them accountable.” Whether Congress passes and the President signs this bill or not, the promise and the responsibility to fully secure our border will remain unfulfilled.