U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is none too pleased about the federal government shutdown, and he took to Twitter Thursday to tell his constituents all about it.
“I think it’s very important for the people of Tennessee to know that I believe that a government shutdown is always the wrong thing to do,” Alexander said, adding he opposed shutdowns under former Democratic President Barack Obama, just as much as he does under Republican President Donald Trump.
“A government shutdown should be as off-limits to budget negotiations as chemical weapons are to warfare. I have suggested three ways to solve the problem. All of them involving provisions that Democrats and Republicans have voted for before.”
As The Tennessee Star reported this week, Alexander said the best way to resolve the stalemate is for the feds to provide money for border security at ports of entry and to define the legal status for those already here.
In his Twitter video, Alexander said a bipartisan appropriations committee recently approved $5.7 billion for border security, including $1.6 billion for the wall.
“A year ago, 54 of us in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, voted for $25 billion in appropriated dollars for extensive border security, including the wall,” Alexander said.
“Or we can do what we tried to do in 2013, which is to tackle the entire legal immigration system, which is what we need to do to solve all of the problems. If we had done in 2013 what the senate passed, and I voted for, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion today.”
According to Politifact, in 2013, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act passed the Senate on a 68-32 vote.
That bill, if passed into law, would have required the Secretary of Homeland Security to report on border security strategy. That would have involved the National Guard securing the border . The bill also would have considered increasing the number of border patrol agents. The bill also included provisions to allow illegal immigrants to adjust their immigration status.
According to FOX News, that bill died in the House.
“The 2013 bipartisan bill would have provided $46 billion for border security improvements,” according to FOX News.
“That’s nearly double the $25 billion President Trump is now pressing for to build the wall on our border with Mexico.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
[…] As The Tennessee Star reported last week, Alexander took to Twitter to say “a government shutdown is always the wrong thing to do.” […]
I think the “piece-meal” passing of a budget is wrong in the first place.
It’s hard for citizens to put all the pieces together to understand the total budget,
But I think that is the purpose of the piece meal.
A complete budget for all of Government should passed at one time,
That would put the pressure on both sides to “negotiate in good faith” or the whole government would shut down.
Congress has been “Talking” about fixing the immigration problem for over ten years,
If they were serious, it would have been fixed 9 years ago.
Most companies want immigrants because they will work for less wages,
But what’s going to happen if “Someone” inform them they are being “Discriminated against” in not being paid the wages other Americans would be paid???
Tyson Chicken would be a good place to start.
Well Lamar pass it or piss off
Yes, Senator, especially when the shutdown results from those elected officials who refuse to obey their oath and do one of their “few and defined” Constitutional duties:
The United States SHALL guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and SHALL protect each of them against Invasion; …
(Article IV, Section 4)
Lamar Alexander’s political legacy he’ll leave for history,
one of disdain and elitism for the legal residents of his home state of Tennessee:
More concern for illegal aliens and cheap labor for the global corporations he’s in bed with than for his Tennessee constituents who work hard to make ends meet
More concern for the lives and welfare of these migrant invaders than for the life and security of his Tennessee constituents who must pay for increased drugs, crimes and social entitlements
More concern for the bureaucrats of the bloated Federal government than for what Tennesseans asked him to do – vote for building a wall at our southern border.
If this idiot votes for anything but The Wall, vote him out of office.
Alexander is an establishment dinosaur what else would you expect for him to say?
You’re a bit late to the show Lamar. Now tell us how your announcement of “shutting down the gov’t is wrong” will help the current situation. How about you start demanding Pelosi & Schumer get onboard with President Trump’s effort to secure the border.
Did u voice that it’s the wrong thing to do when Obama was
In?
Come on FYI we need the wall as big and strong as we can make it.
SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT IN EVERY WAY !
The Democrats are trying to destroy our Country. I think they have lost all reasoning.
AMEN!
Neglecting immigration control is a problem with no potential for a roll back.
With the exception of an extraordinary move to depose the corrupt TN Governor Ray Blanton, at no point in his lengthy career do I recall Senator Alexander ever having adopted a principled stand on ANY issue. If there was a time for him to redeem himself it is now.
Otherwise, Senator Alexander’s a legacy is one of mediocrity that someone such as he should take seriously.
Go back to sleep Lamar.
Take a long nap from politics. Sayonara!