The House Freedom Caucus and Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) delivered a series of fiery speeches Wednesday night, calling on President Donald Trump and Congress to fund his promised border wall; Meadows said they will back Trump if he vetoes the spending bill.
The House Freedom Caucus led a special order on the House floor on Wednesday night, urging Congress and the president to continue fighting for the border wall.
Meadows said, “I rise to encourage my colleagues to stay in the fight to have the president deliver on a promise.”
The House Freedom Caucus proposed an amendment to the proposed spending bill that would fund $5 billion in border wall funding and close asylum loopholes, ending “catch and release.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Wednesday that he will sponsor a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through February 8, and kick the border wall funding fight to when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) likely becomes the next Speaker of the House.
Meadows, along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), have often been described as President Trump’s “pit bulls,” noting their strong will to fight for Trump’s America First agenda.
The North Carolina conservative noted that the president said that he would not sign another spending bill that does not include border wall funding.
Rep. Meadows charged:
The president many, many, months ago said that he would not sign another funding bill unless we gave him wall funding. So what did this House do? It passed a bill to fund the Department of Defense, a short-term CR, and they said you know what, we’re going to have that fight after the midterms.
Mr. Speaker, it is after the midterms and we are here with a number of my colleagues tonight to say that we’re ready to fight on behalf of all the freedom loving americans to make sure that we have secure borders and to make sure that never again do we have to worry about terrorists and drug traffickers coming across our southern borders.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) spoke after Meadows, saying, “Securing the border is a fundamental constitutional duty of the federal government.”
Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), a doctor, spoke of the opioid crisis and how the lack of a border wall has only led to more American addiction and death through the opioid crisis.
“A study came out earlier this year that said that the opioid crisis is deadlier than the Vietnam war in 1968,” Gosar explained. “The study said that the opioid crisis cost more than 1.7 million years of life.”
Gosar said, “Securing the border is a matter of life and death.”
Our country can’t afford for Republican leadership to roll over to open border Democrats. The time to take a stand is today! We must keep our promise to the American people and #buildthewall. Watch here➡️https://t.co/CN3Rq07Bql pic.twitter.com/ysIqieFDG1
— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) December 20, 2018
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), said, “We are here to talk about the promise we made to the American people.”
Perry said that “this is our last chance, Nancy Pelosi will not do this.”
“The American people are counting on us to do what we said we would do,” Perry said.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), a co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, slammed House Republican and Democrat leadership for fooling the American people into thinking that they would fund Trump’s proposed border wall.
“Everyone knows the line ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,’” Jordan said. “The new line should be, ‘fool the American people four times, shame on Congress.”
Jordan continued, “Now they’re talking about kicking it to February 8th, you got to be kidding me. February 8th? When Nancy Pelosi is Speaker? Four different times we promised something and then kicked the can down the road.”
Rep. Jordan said, “The House Freedom Caucus is sick of the games. The American people are sick of the games.”
A Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday found that building a wall on America’s southern border and immigration reform rank as two of the top issues for Republican voters.
Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM), whose district lies on America’s southern border, said, “All we’re asking is secure the border. Will we secure the border? The answer should be yes.”
Congressman Jody Hice (R-GA), said, “We have the opportunity in the spending bill to finally deliver for the American people.”
“The border crisis is for real. The wall is not the whole answer, but it is the first step,” Hice added.
Hice then noted, “Walls work, wherever walls have been placed there have been great results. For example, a 92 percent reduction in traffic in San Diego.”
Meadows then wrapped up the special order, calling on President Trump to veto the proposed CR, contending that House conservatives will fight with him to secure America’s border.
Chairman Meadows said:
I think that it’s appropriate to remind the American people that there is a bad case of Potomac fever up here in Washington, D.C. They forget what they promised the American people and yet what they must do is not forget it this time. Mr. President we’re going to back you up if you veto this bill, we’ll be there, but more importantly, the American people will be there, they’ll be there to support you. [Emphasis added.]
“Let’s build the wall and make sure that we do our job in Congress,” Meadows said.
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