WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, joined the Senate in voting 83-16 for an agreement to fund the government through September 2019. Udall also responded to reports that President Trump will declare a national emergency in order to raid other funds to build his border wall, after the congressional agreement rejected President Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion in funding for the wall.
“Today, I voted to put President Trump’s 35-day government shutdown behind us. While I do not agree with everything in this legislation, I supported this agreement because it provides strong investments in New Mexico, and it provides certainty to the federal workers, families, and communities in our state who suffered under President Trump’s shutdown.
“While this compromise agreement rejects the vast majority of President Trump’s wall, it should have done more to hold this administration accountable for its out-of-control, anti-immigrant policies. I will continue to fight for humane immigration policies, conduct rigorous oversight of this administration’s detention practices, and work to enact smart border security. The president’s forthcoming national emergency declaration is a politically-motivated abuse of his office. That is why I am leading legislation to block this unjustified and likely unlawful stunt, to assert Congress’ role as a co-equal branch of government, and to prevent the president from raiding critical funds – funds we have set aside for disaster recovery and military base construction – for the wasteful border wall he wants to build along the entire southern border.
“While today’s homeland security package is certainly not the one I would have written on my own, the broader legislation includes several appropriations bills that I helped author – with funding to benefit New Mexico’s economy, federal workers, infrastructure, public lands, Tribes, nutrition programs, opioids response, and other priorities. Those bipartisan bills rejected many of the president’s most harmful cuts and destructive policy proposals, and they represent a roadmap for how we should aim to govern going forward. We must rise above the president’s governance by chaos, extortion, and division, and instead focus on accomplishing the actual priorities of working people in New Mexico and across the country. As the president made clear with his announcement today, this struggle is far from over.”
