WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. House and Senate were both able to strike a budget deal before getting out of Washington for the August recess, but one lawmaker thinks Congress should cut the vacation short and get back to work now.
Congressman Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, says lawmakers should be working to hash out a deal on border security.
“We shouldn’t be leaving Washington, D.C. for the month of August while the border is wide open,” Perry said.
The nation is facing a crisis at the border, according to Perry, and instead of taking a legislative break, he wants Congress to find a solution now.
“Instead of encouraging illegal entry in the United States, we ought to be discouraging it,” he added.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed a $4.6 billion border aid package into law but Perry argues the measure is just a band-aid to deal with the flood of immigrants at the border.
Perry says a physical barrier, like a border wall, must be part of the fix.
“If you had a physical barrier, we could then reallocate our resources better so that we have less infiltration,” he explained.
Most Democrats agree there is a problem but don’t agree on the solution.
“I don’t see how a wall through the parts of Texas that I’m very familiar without through the desert will accomplish anything but waste significant taxpayer money,” Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett said.
“I think the Trump administration has concluded that the only way we can secure our border is with inhumanity,” the Democrat added.
Doggett says border security can be accomplished without causing harm to migrant families.
“I don’t think Mr. Trump really cares if he gets a wall on the border,” Doggett said. “What he does want is a fight over the wall on the border to continue to energize his most bigoted supporters.”
But with no plans to cut the recess short, Democrats and Republicans will have to wait to hash out their differences until after they return in September.