House Dem: We should build 'a wall around Trump'
House Dem: We should build 'a wall around Trump'
02/01/17 06:01 PM EST
http://thehill.com/sites/default/fil...?itok=YmcwST0c
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) has an idea for a wall. Just not the one President Trump wants.
Instead of building a wall along the Mexican border, Espaillat suggested tongue-in-cheek Wednesday that a wall be erected around the president himself.
“We should be building a wall around Trump to stop these irrational executive orders instead of this ludicrous $25 billion wall between our closest ally,” Espaillat said on the House floor.
Trump signed an executive order last week directing federal agencies to take steps toward building the wall, one of his central campaign promises. GOP leaders said at their annual retreat last week that they expect Congress will consider a supplemental spending bill this year to fund the wall, which is estimated to cost somewhere between $10 billion to $25 billion.
Espaillat, the first former undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress, introduced legislation on Monday that would prohibit construction of new border barriers on federal land.
“The wall itself sends a strong message to citizens around the world that they are not welcome here in America,” he said.
The freshman lawmaker represents a Bronx district where 92 percent of voters preferred Hillary Clinton over Trump.
Trump pledged during his campaign that he would force Mexico to pay for the wall, which the country’s leaders say will never happen.
The standoff with Trump led Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, to cancel a planned visit to Washington this week.
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...l-around-trump
