July 12, 2017

House Republicans Resort to Underhanded Legislative Tactics to Enable Trump to Build the Wall with our Military’s Money

Washington, DC – Late Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee voted out a rule governing debate on the National Defense Authorizing Act (NDAA) that – upon approval by the full House of Representatives – will immediately eliminate a provision championed by Congressman Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) blocking the Trump administration from diverting funds from the defense budget to pay for construction of a new border wall. By resorting to this rarely employed parliamentary procedure, House Republicans will avoid a clean up-or-down vote on the issue. The move comes despite the fact that the provision in question was unanimously supported by Members of the House Armed Services Committee during the panel's mark up last month.

"Once again, Speaker Ryan and the House Republicans are doing President Trump's dirty work," said Rep. Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran. "They didn't have the courage to oppose my amendment in Committee or on the House floor. Instead, Republicans are resorting to legislative gimmickry to do Trump's bidding. With this self-executing rule, they are attempting to slip one past Congress and the American people.

"Just five months into his administration, it's already abundantly clear that Mexico won't pay for Trump's pointless border wall. We must not allow resources to be robbed from our troops just to satisfy Trump's fragile ego."