Top House Budget Dem signals support for border security but opposes border wall

The ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.) said on Thursday that Democrats would not support spending for President Trump’s proposed border wall despite the risk of a government shutdown. 

“I think Democrats are fine with spending money on border security, but we’re in support of spending money for sensible border security, and the wall is not sensible,” Yarmouth, who will likely chair the committee in the new Congress, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.” 

“I was on the Gang of Eight, we called it back in 2013, working on comprehensive immigration reform. We had a huge commitment to border security, but even then, the people who were in the border states said walls are not the answer,” he continued. 

“There are places where barriers make sense — El Paso-Juarez, for instance, and San Diego. But out in the middle of the desert, they make no sense,” he said. “Again, I think we’re strongly committed to border security, but not a 2,000-mile wall.” 

Funding for Trump’s border wall has become one of the biggest roadblocks in getting a spending deal through Congress to avoid a government shutdown. 

Congress has until Dec. 7 to fund the government after lawmakers failed to approve seven of the 12 individual funding bills before the end of the fiscal year deadline.

Yarmuth said in an interview with Louisville Courier-Journal this week that it is up to Trump on whether he wants to deal with another government shutdown or not. 

“I don’t think there’s any question that he’s not going to get his [border] wall,” Yarmuth told the newspaper. “It will be up to the president at that point as to whether he wants to precipitate a government shutdown or not.”

However, the Kentucky Democrat added that he did think a shutdown was avoidable due to his working relationship with White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. 

— Julia Manchester