Winning the Budget Showdown

Monday, August 28, 2017

President Trump has renewed his call for the border wall funding that he and so many Republicans have campaigned on to stop illegal immigration and to secure our borders.

It’s a fight that can be won if Republicans stand united with the president and speak with one voice against the Democrats who vote against funding for the border wall.

If the Democrats want to block a larger government funding bill simply to stop $1.6 billion in funding for a wall that many of them voted for in 2006, Republicans should welcome the fight.

But Republicans will certainly fail if they surrender and join the Democrats in opposing the wall funding and attacking the president and conservatives on the issue.

The stakes are high.

The president and congressional Republicans need to draw a line in the sand and win this showdown with the Democrats because if they don’t, the Democrats will be emboldened to systematically obstruct the entire Republican agenda going forward.

In 2013 when the Democrats controlled the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell argued that conservatives should not defund the implementation of Obamacare because Republicans didn’t control the White House and because Obamacare was the “law of the land.”

Now the tables have been turned. Republicans control the Senate and White House and conservatives want to fund the border wall, which was passed by a bipartisan majority in the Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Will Senator McConnell fight to fund a Republican priority that is the “law of the land” now that he has a Senate majority and a Republican president? Or does Mitch McConnell only fight for liberal priorities championed by Democrat presidents?

Time will tell.

We’re working to put grassroots pressure on Senate Republicans to make the majority matter and will send you more specific action items in the days to come. Thank you for your continued support.