Rep. Cuellar Votes to Reopen Government and End Trump Shutdown

Legislation funds the Department of Homeland Security through February 28

Texas Border Business

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WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee and Subcommittees of Homeland Security, Defense and Agriculture, voted to reopen and fund the Department of Homeland Security through February 28. The U.S. House of Representatives has now voted eleven times in the 116th Congress to reopen all or part of the federal government. House Democrats call on the Senate Republicans to pass legislation to reopen furloughed agencies and send it to the President for signature.

“It is time that we reopen the Department of Homeland Security and end the government shutdown,” said Congressman Cuellar. “As Democrats have said all along, we must first reopen the government and then negotiate, so that federal workers don’t suffer.”

“President Trump continues to reject any notion of a compromise, holding 800,000 federal employees hostage over the border wall, a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem. The reality is that Texas has natural barriers that make it very difficult to cross the border. And over half of undocumented immigrants don’t enter illegally— they overstay after legal entry due to our insufficient immigration administrative capacity. Furthermore, most drugs that illegally enter the U.S. at our southern border are smuggled through ports of entry, not through areas where this wall would be built.”

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“Border cities like my hometown of Laredo are often four to five times safer than cities like Washington, D.C. Given these facts, we must advocate for solutions that work instead of needlessly wasting taxpayer dollars.”

“I call on the President to put aside his insistence on the wall, work with us to reopen the government, and then negotiate on border security funding proposals.”

Watch Congressman Cuellar speak on the House Floor in support of reopening the federal government and ending the Trump Shutdown here.

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