Sen John Kennedy (R)
Congressional leaders have agreed to provide 1.37 of the 5.7 billion dollars the President has demanded to construct additional physical barriers along the US-Mexican border. Senator John Kennedy says he hasn’t read the entire bill yet, but he’s been told that when combined with other funds, the final tab is a bit higher.
“He basically has access to two billion dollars to build additions to the wall, and keep in mind that will be spread over seven months. We will start over when the new fiscal year begins next October.”
The legislation would also increase detention capacities for immigration enforcement agencies.
Kennedy says he’s not sure whether he will ultimately vote for the deal, but two billion dollars isn’t a bad start to southern border wall expansion efforts.
“It’s a down payment. We have about 1900 miles of border and change. We have walled off about 600 miles. We need about another 150 to 250.”
National media are reporting anonymous sources inside the White House have indicated the President will ultimately sign the deal to prevent another partial government shutdown, but Kennedy wants to remind constituents that it’s not done until the Commander in Chief puts pen to paper.
“I don’t know who Anonymous Sources is, so until the White House issues a statement, im going to assume they are doing what I am doing, and that is studying the legislation.”
Kennedy says he also is not sure whether or not the funding bill will clear the Democratically control House, but he assumes it will.
