[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              THE BORDER WALL IS EXPENSIVE AND UNNECESSARY

  (Mr. BROWN of Maryland asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, President Trump's immigration 
policies are unpopular. They don't protect our national security and 
don't promote our ideals as a nation.
  Nowhere is that more apparent than his repeated calls for a border 
wall. This wall is so unpopular and nonsensical that the House has now 
resorted to funding it without even a straight up-or-down vote.
  Why are they doing this? Not only to give the President a much-needed 
win, but to fool the American taxpayer who was repeatedly promised that 
Mexico would pay for this wall.
  The border wall is expensive and unnecessary. It is opposed not only 
by a huge majority of Americans, but also by those living on the 
border.
  Now, Members of Congress are being forced to choose between voting 
for the wall and voting to fund our military. I support our 
servicemembers. I spent 30 years in Active and Reserve Duty. I am a 
member of the House Armed Services Committee. I want to improve the 
readiness of our Armed Forces, but I cannot and will not support a 
multi-billion dollar wall that Members of both sides of the aisle now 
know is unnecessary and ineffective. I will not throw away $1.6 billion 
to feed the President's ego. On this issue, the American people deserve 
to know exactly where their representatives stand.

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