Five Senate Republicans say they will withhold support for any 2022 spending bill to fund the government — unless money for former President Trump’s signature wall at the southern border is included.
In a letter to their colleagues, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) said a government funding proposal released by the Democrat-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee was inadequate.
The story was first reported by Fox News.
“The failure to provide sufficient resources is a continuation of the Biden-Harris Administration’s inability and unwillingness to acknowledge the humanitarian and national security risks created by its open-border policies,” the elected officials wrote. “We write to indicate that we will withhold support of any negotiated Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus funding agreement that fails to appropriately fund our nation’s border security.”
President Biden has sharply reversed many of his predecessor’s policies along the southern border — and halted construction of the wall.
The border has seen surges of illegal migrants since Biden took office. In September more than 14,000 Haitian migrants living in Central America crossed into the United States and briefly created a tent city under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
Omnibus spending bills provide critical funding to keep government functions operating. They have become increasingly contentious in recent years, causing government shutdowns in 2018 and 2019.
