Outgoing Sen. Bob Corker took a swipe Sunday at President Trump’s insistence on funding for a border wall that led to a partial government shutdown starting Saturday.
“This is a made-up fight so that the president can look like he’s fighting. Even if he wins, our borders are going to be insecure,” the Tennessee Republican said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The president has stalled a spending bill that would continue to fund the government over the border wall funding issue. The House passed a version of the bill last week that included more than $5 billion for a border wall, but does not have enough support in the Senate, leading to the shutdown.
“Just a few months ago, the president could have received $25 billion in border security just by dealing with the Dreamers which, by the way, most Republicans want to deal with the Dreamers issue,” Corker said, referring to the status of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally as children.
But the president, he said, doesn’t want a deal — he wants a campaign issue.
“We had $25 billion that could have been spent on border security. Now the government is shut down,” Corker said.
