releases: https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/audio-udall-speaks-out-against-president-trumps-wasteful-and-ineffective-border-wall-stands-with-new-mexico-border-communities
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
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| https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/audio-udall-speaks-out-against-president-trumps-wasteful-and-ineffective-border-wall-stands-with-new-mexico-border-communities | AUDIO: Udall Speaks Out Against President Trumps Wasteful and Ineffective Border Wall, Stands with New Mexico Border Communities | 2018-12-12 | 2018 | 2018-12 | Democrat | House | NM | Tom Udall | U000039 | www.tomudall.senate.gov | legacy | December 12, 2018 AUDIO: Udall Speaks Out Against President Trump's Wasteful and Ineffective Border Wall, Stands with New Mexico Border Communities Udall: Congress should not give in to the president's latest anti-immigration tantrum Discusses wall's devastating consequences for communities, businesses, and ecosystems across southern New Mexico WASHINGTON During a press conference call,U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.)spoke out againstPresident Trump's unnecessary and ineffective border wall. As the president threatens to shut down the government over wall funding -- saying yesterday that he would be proud to shut down the government --Udall underscored the disruptive and damaging consequences thata borderwall would inflict on New Mexico's border communities. Udall began,We will not stand by as the president threatens to shut down the government in an act of political extortion As the president tries to force the American people to pay for his border wall a wall that would run right through New Mexico and through so many of the communities and ecosystems that define our state. Udall continued, Congress should not give in to the president's latest anti-immigration tantrum. A tantrum that is not based in reality, and that fundamentally lacks the support of the American public. Udall emphasized that New Mexicans and Americans know that a border wall is ineffective and unnecessary, noting, Let there be no equivocating: New Mexico's border communities emphatically reject the President's unnecessary, ineffective, and offensive wallPoll after poll shows us that the American people donotsupport this wall. He also pointed out that despite the president's demands for $5 billion in border wall funding, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has yet to even fully spend the money it was appropriated last year for border security, saying,The American people also know a wall is wildly wasteful and expensive. The Democratic staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee estimates a wall would cost $70 billion dollars, just to construct. Studies estimate maintenance costs could reach $100 to $150 million dollars a year. And while the President ups his demand to $5 billion dollars for a wall -- DHS hasn't even spent its funds for border barriers from the previous years' budget. And DHS STILL owes Congress a risk-based border security plan required by last year's Appropriation's bill. They have yet to produce this report. There's no accountability. Finally, Udall expressed his serious concerns that border wall would do grave damage to border communities, businesses, and ecosystems across southern New Mexico, while diminishing our nation's identity as a beacon of hope throughout the world, saying,Finally, the American people reject the president's wall because they know that it would do grave damage to the border region. A massive wall would disrupt border communities, interfere with private property rights, and damage habitat and wildlife. Take it from a border state like New Mexico. We can't afford a government shutdown. And we don't need the President's wall,Udall concluded. ClickHEREto download the audio. Print Email Tweet Next Article Previous Article | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |