Now we know why Donald Trump spent Thursday morning ranting and raving on Twitter about his wall.
For those fortunate enough to have missed or otherwise ignored the President’s wild social media tirade, just note that he seems particularly perturbed today. At one point, he told Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee that they’re “wasting their time.”
Read more
He went on to accuse Democrats of ignoring what he says is “evidence and proof” of something – although he didn’t specify what – and he reiterated his warning that “Caravans [are] coming. ”
Then, he said this:
Democrats are not going to give money to build the DESPERATELY needed WALL. I’ve got you covered. Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!
Fast forward a couple of hours and a draft of the Democratic proposal for border security is out.
Suffice to say there’s no wall money, which is hilarious. Here it is, for anyone interested in parsing it:
Lawmakers began negotiations on Wednesday in an effort to avoid a second shutdown on February 15.
There were no breakthroughs. Clearly, Trump’s morning rant suggests that a compromise on the wall is not in the cards.
Separately, Politico reports that the administration is moving ahead with plans for Trump to declare a national emergency. To wit:
The White House is finalizing details of a potential national emergency declaration to secure President Donald Trump’s border wall, even as lawmakers are trying to broker an immigration deal that could avert another shutdown in just over two weeks.
Trump met with his budget chief, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Jared Kushner and other top officials, including White House lawyers, on Tuesday to walk through the logistics of such a move. And White House aides have been quietly meeting with outside conservative political groups to build support for the president to take such an action. Those talking points, which emphasize Trump’s legal authority, have begun to show up in such conservative media outlets as Breitbart News.
There you go, folks. That’s where we’re at. Trump has Breitbart talking up the legal case for a national emergency declaration which, you’re reminded, will likely entail looting disaster relief funds.
Read more
“We have a conference committee that is working I think in good spirit,” Pelosi said. On the wall, she told reporters this:
There’s not gonna be any wall money in the legislation.
Any questions?
So I reviewed the first 3 pages of the Demo Border proposal. Last 3 pages appear unrelated to the “wall” and too wonkish for me. In summary the Demos are offering about $3 billion in increases over FY18 ($1.9 billion for Customs and Border Protection, $110 million for ICE, $354m for TSA and $555m for Coast Guard). Sounds good.
Alas, bullet point 2 at the top of page 2 probably has a negotiating killer. Five specific wall segments are specifically PROHIBITED from being funded. I assume these walls have something to do with Trump’s $5.7B request.
So when are us citizens going to demand that this security/wall craziness be turned over to the experts: engineers, Border Patrol, high tech, etc.?