Webster: I Cannot Break My Promise to Voters

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Clermont) released the following statement on why he is voting no on FY2019 Appropriations package.

“Throughout my time in Congress I’ve supported improving border security, building a wall and reforming our immigration system. However, this bill makes a mockery of getting serious about our crisis at the southern border. 

“It provides a mere $1.375 billion for 55 miles of a new wall and the strings attached make the ability to actually erect any new physical barrier nigh impossible. Further, it handcuffs the very agents charged with protecting our borders and expands the loopholes that are exploited every day by MS-13 and other gang members. While refusing appropriate funding for border security, it makes no attempt to seriously address our spending problem. Instead it is a spending splurge on countless pet projects and special interest programs of dubious value to the taxpayers. Completely avoiding the tough spending decisions that are needed to reign in our debt and deficit.

“I ran for office pledging to do my part to stop the spigot of spending and get our fiscal house in order.  Voting for this bill today would be voting to do the opposite of what I pledged to my constituents and the American people. I am frustrated that this is the best deal that our negotiators were able to get.

“The House and Senate must reject the practice of last-minute funding deals that are negotiated behind closed doors by a small group of lawmakers. We must begin development of FY 2020 appropriations bills now.  I am confident we can set our nation on a responsible fiscal path while still investing in critical priorities including more border security, infrastructure projects and our military. I do not accept the standard Washington presumption that nothing in the budget can be cut in order to fund priorities without increasing the deficit.”

Background

• In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records, including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings.
  • Women and children are being victimized and used as pawns by vicious individuals and gangs. 31% of women and 17% of men are sexually assaulted along the journey. Additionally, 68% of migrants and refugees are victims of violence along the journey.
  • 90% of the illegal drugs flowing into our country come across the southern border, including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. 
• Bill empowers gangs like MS-13 who take advantage of loopholes by further hamstringing the Department of Homeland Security’s Border Patrol when they detain adults who have illegally crossed our border with children.
  • This bill prohibits any funds from being used to detain those who have been apprehended for illegally entering our country, if they are connected with what is commonly called an unaccompanied alien child, incentivizing the trafficking of children.
  • Drug cartels lure thousands of young women to the U.S. with promises of a better life, only to impress those women into sex slavery upon arrival.
  • Gangs are known to recruit these children and use them to gain access to our country.
  • Human trafficking has become an easier and more lucrative business for drug cartels. 

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