releases: https://vela.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/texas-border-congressman-airs-spacex-border-wall-concerns
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://vela.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/texas-border-congressman-airs-spacex-border-wall-concerns | Texas border congressman airs SpaceX border wall concerns | 2018-12-16 | 2018 | 2018-12 | Democrat | House | TX | Filemon Vela | V000132 | vela.house.gov | legacy | WASHINGTONU.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, a leader in the effort to block Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from becoming speaker, settled for a compromise last week that caps her time in the post, but he came away with an unexpected bonus: a direct line to Pelosi on a critical issue for his district the border wall. With President Donald Trump threatening to shut down the government if he doesn't get $5 billion for a wall, Pelosi has met privately with Vela over his strong opposition to a wall and concerns about a barrier interfering with the spaceport being built by SpaceX outside Brownsville. I met with her the day she met with Trump, Vela said, referring to Tuesday's antagonistic Oval Office meeting with Trump, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. And I walked into her office after she'd just gotten off the phone with him. Pelosi was praised by Democrats for standing up to Trump during the heated conversation, attended by reporters, over border wall funding. The border wall is obviously really important to me, said Vela. She handled that issue really well in her meeting with Trump. The president followed up with Pelosi in a telephone call. A shutdown is a real possibility, Vela said. At the same time, Pelosi also was negotiating with the half dozen or so ringleaders opposed to her becoming speaker again she was speaker from 2007 to 2011 and reached out to Vela. I had a long conversation with her about the wall, he said of his 45-minute talk in Pelosi's office, a meeting that contributed to his agreeing that Pelosi be speaker for a limited time. By the next day, Pelosi, who also was talking to other dissidents, had agreed to a plan that would enable her to serve as speaker through 2022, opening the door to a new generation of leaders and giving her the votes she needs to be elected speaker Jan. 3. Nancy and I have no questions on the table, said Vela. I have her full-fledged support. And one of the most important issues to him is securing protection for SpaceX's spaceport, under construction at Boca Chica beach outside Brownsville by excluding government-built barriers on about 20 miles of the property. I'm going to vote no' to any package that has a nickel of wall funding, he said. But he wants whatever package that emerges from discussions between Congress and the White House to protect the SpaceX project in his district. Meanwhile, another Texas border congressman, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, also is working with Pelosi to get compromise language that protects wildlife refuges and cultural areas on the border if lawmakers can reach a deal with Trump. Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and a Pelosi lieutenant who was just promoted to be a chief deputy whip, is worried that Trump is entrenched in a 14th century solution to border security and may be willing to have a partial government shutdown. He wants everything on the wall, Cuellar said. We're saying border security is personnel, resources at the ports of entry, technology. ... He just wants to fulfill his campaign promise. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |