Cornyn: Wall money a ‘down payment’
Published 9:43 am Thursday, February 14, 2019
By Ken Stickney
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Wednesday that a budget deal seems both imminent and likely to grant President Trump part of what he has sought for border wall construction in this fiscal year.
Speaking with Texas reporters on a conference call, Cornyn said a bipartisan budget pact “sounds like it is coming together,” enough so to provide “a down payment” on funding border protection. Cornyn suggested such a deal would stave off a second federal government shutdown over the Fiscal Year 2019 budget.
“We’re still awaiting the text to see what is included,” Cornyn said, acknowledging that border protection is three pronged, including physical barriers such as walls or fences; technology to detect violations along the southern border; and patrol and surveillance personnel assigned to protecting the border.
Cornyn also suggested that some of the continuing disagreement over protecting the border may stem from semantics. He said the president emphasizes a “physical barrier,” construction of which he touted during his winning, 2016 campaign, and sometimes “expresses himself in a way I would not.”
In response to a reporter question, he said the problem is “the porous nature of the border,” adding that while Democrats and Republicans have split over the issue of late, at least ostensibly and during this session, border security itself “is not a trivial matter.” That’s why Democrats prior to Trump’s election supported border security, including construction of a fence.
“This used to be not particularly partisan,” Cornyn said.
He also said he does not expect the president to divert money from emergency funds — that includes money for Hurricane Harvey victims — to wall construction. He said he and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz have both urged the president to not divert those funds.
Nonetheless, he implied, the president may make an announcement soon that would involve security and measures that he could make alone from the executive branch.
Cornyn in ‘20
Also in response to reporter questions, Cornyn said he will be well-prepared for his re-election bid in 2020. He decried political “complacency” among some Republicans and cautioned them that Texas is “no longer a reliable red state.”
He said it’s been 25 years since a Democrat won a statewide election, but former U.S. Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke’s narrow loss to Cruz for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas in 2018 should have been a wake-up call. Some Democrats have suggested O’Rourke might run for president or against Cornyn for Senate in 2020.
Cornyn said he is “taking due note” of the political landscape and preparing for 2020.
Two possible factors in 2020:
- President Trump apparently will seek re-election. “Trump will be responsible for 100 percent of turnout: half for him, half against,” Cornyn said.
- Democrats seeking the presidential nomination, Cornyn said, are staking our “radical positions,” including Medicare for All and the New Green Deal on the environment. He said both positions are too radical for Texas voters.
Cornyn said he has run statewide since 1990 and has tried to develop “a track record of performance, producing results for the people of Texas.”
“I’m looking forward to the race,” he added. “I enjoy elections.”
