Listen to “Cuccinelli: GOP Emboldened on Border Wall Fight” on Spreaker.
Democrats now control the House of Representatives, but former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Republicans appear more committed than ever to funding the border wall demanded by President Trump.
A partial government shutdown has been in effect since Dec. 22 over a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats over funding the border wall. Prior to Thursday, the stagnation was due to the Senate’s inability to find 60 votes for the funding.
The House Democratic majority has no plans to even consider a bill with money for the wall, but Cuccinelli says the GOP seems much more resolute than usual.
“You don’t hear me say this very often. I was pleased to see (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell say we’re not going to pass along the House bill that doesn’t include this funding. So he has expressly sided with the president. And I think that’s a first on this issue,” said Cuccinelli.
“I think that show of unity between the new Senate Republican majority, which is bigger than the last one, and the president should be able to hold the line,” said Cuccinelli.
Cuccinelli expects Republicans to stand strong even as the post-holiday media pressure to end the partial shutdown intensifies.
“I don’t see a lot of the usual hand-wringing among Republicans, including establishment Republicans, that I’m used to seeing in circumstances like this. I think, at least for now, they’re girded for a bit of a haul and to salvage some good policy at the border out of this,” said Cuccinelli.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Cuccinelli’s advice for how the GOP’s Senate majority and House minority ought to focus their time and energy over the next two years and how the Trump administration is doing far more to roll back regulations and limit new ones than any administration in recent memory.
