He Believes in Border Security

As long as it is done with a magic wand. 
It has been a while, life is a busy thing. For fun, adding this response to an email I sent to my congressman regarding government shutdowns and border protection.

Dear Mr. Man:

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the government shutdown under President Donald J. Trump. I appreciate your thoughts on this issue.   

In your letter, you expressed concern about the most recent, record breaking, 35-day government shutdown. The shutdown occurred due to a disagreement between Congress and the President on funding priorities including funding a wall on the southern border of the United States. To be clear, I am not supportive of government shutdowns nor do I support funding the government one or a few months at a time. In fact, for the last government shutdown I voted in favor of keeping the government open and in support of H.R. 2977, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. H.R. 2977 provided equal increases in funding for Defense and Non-Defense spending. Furthermore, I supported this bill because it will raise the budget caps for two years allowing Congress to fund the government with a longer-term bill for the rest of 2018.  

  On the topic of border security, please be aware, I do not support illegal immigration. First and foremost, I believe we must stop people from entering this country illegally by sealing off our borders. To that end, I support legislation that requires building an electronic fence and the use of advanced technology to help with surveillance. I also support increasing the number of border patrol agents, as well as further using the National Guard and other military personnel, to help with border security. However, we must have clearly defined rules that are easy to follow and keep people safe. 

 

In your letter your expressed explicit concerns of a government shutdown as it relates to President Trump’s demand for border wall funds. President Trump has demanded $5 billion to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. However, President Trump in the past promised the American people that Mexico will pay for the construction of the border wall, now he wants the Americans to pay $5 billion for its construction.  On December 19^th, 2018 the Senate passed a bipartisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government until February 8^th, 2019 which Speaker Paul Ryan said President Trump would not sign until $5 billion is included for the construction of the wall. Democrats have offered homeland security alternatives to increase border patrol agents, improved security technology, and more however, President Trump has opposed these bipartisan efforts empowering House Republicans to act alone instead of working across the aisle. As a result, we were in a partial government shutdown which left many agencies and critical services that address daily American needs without funds. 

 

You may be pleased to know, the record breaking government shutdown ended on January 25^th, 2019.  The government shutdown ended through an agreement between Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and President Trump to fund the government until February 15^th, 2019.  President Trump did not receive the demanded $5 billion to fund a border wall.  However, furloughed federal employees did receive back pay for their work. During this shutdown, 800,000 federal employees were furloughed.  Instead of not showing up to work, federal employees such as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Agents came to work without pay to keep America secure and safe.  Additionally, we saw our aviation industries suffer as air traffic worsened, and delays increased. This is a gruesome reminder that government shutdowns cause serious harm to families, national security, and daily operations which Americans rely on.  Congress and the President must come together to provide long term funding to all sections of government and put an end to short term funding solutions. I look forward to working with Members within my own party and across the aisle to provide long-term funding to our various functions of government.     

 

Again, I thank you for sharing your views with me. I hope you will continue to give me the benefit of your opinion in the future. In addition, I encourage you to visit my web site at http://davidscott.house.gov, where you can view the latest news and obtain information on issues and legislation that is important to you. You can also sign up for my electronic newsletter, and receive periodic updates on my activities as your representative in Washington. Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to continuing to serve you.

Sincerely,
David Scott

 I hate politicians, and politicians hate our President.