As the federal government shutdown continues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are still saying they oppose funding of a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. But in the wake President Trump visiting the border to make his case, many Democrats are breaking with leadership and now say they support a wall.
On CNN, chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Cheri Bustos (DCCC), said, “If we have a partial wall, if we have fencing, if we have technology used to keep our border safe, all of that is fine.”
U.S. Ben Cardin of Maryland said, “Certainly you need barriers and we support barriers.”
“Some fencing is useful, some barriers are useful,” said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. “There’s a lot of surveillance technology. I’ve been to some cities on the border that have triple fencing and have more personnel and have the technology to see the people moving in the middle of the night.”
Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell of California and Jerry Nadler of New York said they would support necessary fencing and barriers. Nadler is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Democratic Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois says he thinks there will be a new barrier in the future along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Vice Chair of the Democrat conference, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, says that new barriers at the border would be beneficial. “You know, I think there are parts of the border that would benefit from repairing fencing and other barricades that already exist there.”
This is all noteworthy because these are prominent Democrats spouting a very different message on the wall than what we have been hearing from Pelosi and Schumer, especially in those leaders rebuttal to President Trump Tuesday night.
Pelosi said Tuesday that the wall would be “expensive and ineffective,” and Schumer said it would be an “ineffective, unnecessary border wall.”
But these Democrats are saying a wall or increased barriers would be effective.
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What happens next is anyone’s guess. But one thing is for sure, as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer continue to resist the wall, they’re fellow Democrats are not reading from the same script.