Watson Coleman Responds to President's Request for Border Wall Funding
WASHINGTON, DC (December 11, 2018) – Today, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) issued the following statement after the President and Vice President met with Democratic Leadership about the approaching government budget shutdown.
"What we saw today was a President, someone who considers himself “a leader,” throwing a tantrum when told he couldn’t get everything he wants. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I take border security very seriously. However, it is in the name of our security that I remain opposed to the President’s ill-conceived and prohibitively expensive plan for a border wall. There are dynamic, modern day surveillance and enforcement techniques that can secure our border. A boneheaded wall across our southern border is not one of them. In addition to the wastefulness of effort and resources it would take to build Trump’s wall, any plan to build it will bear hidden astronomical costs both to staff it and maintain it every year after it’s complete.
"The American people spoke on November 6. They sent a Democratic majority to Congress and they entrusted a Democratic Congress to address the border. The American people have firmly rejected Trump’s boondoggle of a wall. In fact, all but one border district will send a Democrat to Congress. If Donald Trump wants to bet a disruptive government shutdown on his foolish obsession with a border wall, then that’s his prerogative. But, he should look for 218 votes from the 236 Republicans that still control Congress for the time being – not to me or any other Democrat. I will not be voting for Trump’s wall under any circumstances."