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The Chicago Tribune: As Trump, Pelosi and Schumer square off before the cameras on border wall, government shutdown — Quigley weighs in

December 11, 2018
In the News

A link to this article can be found here.

From the Washington Post: "President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer clashed on camera Tuesday over funding for the border wall, an explosive Oval Office encounter that ended with Trump declaring he'd be proud to shut down the government to get what he wants." Read more here.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, the sole Illinois member of the House Appropriations Committee, told The Spin: "President Trump is picking this fight in search (of) a problem that doesn't exist. Apprehensions are nearing historic lows, yet border security spending is at an all-time high. Even after passing over $1 billion for border security last year, only 6 percent has been used."

He also told CNN: "We want to avoid a government shutdown. As you know, though, unfortunately the president has been predictably unpredictable and reliably unreliable. There was funding for border security that passed in last year's budget — over a billion dollars that they haven't used yet. If they want to compromise and continue that funding on into this year, let's not hold up the other six appropriations bills that need to get done and, oh, by the way, passing a bill to protect women against violence, a farm bill, disaster relief, the list goes on."

Issues: Appropriations Immigration