Congresswoman Cheri Bustos doesn’t think much was accomplished during the 35-day federal government shutdown and she’s hopeful a deal on border security can be worked out before Feb. 15, so it won’t close again.
The Democrat says the shutdown is estimated to have caused $11 billion of damage to the national economy.
President Donald Trump and Congressional Democrats couldn’t agree on funding for a border wall with the President demanding $5.7 billion.
Bustos says even if you weren’t affected as an individual, 800,000 federal workers missing 5 weeks of pay has a “human toll”, including for the hundreds of federal employees in the 17th District. She hopes not only that this shutdown is behind us, but that shutdowns in the future will go by the wayside.
The Democrat says she’s hearing from constituents that they want Congress and the President to work together. She believes there’s some common ground shared between Republicans and Democrats that could help guide a compromise.
“There’s not one person, no senator, no house member, no Democrat, no Republican who doesn’t believe that we need to make sure we have a safe and secure border or borders,” Bustos tells WGIL. “And that we don’t want criminals to come into our country. We don’t want drugs to come into our country or human traffickers.
Bustos, now a member of House Democratic Leadership pushes back against the notion that Democrats want open borders. She says Democrats have a four-point plan on how to do modern border security.
“It calls for funding of new scanning technology. We have these ports of entry and that is where 90-percent of the heroin comes into our country, almost 90-percent of the methamphetamines – that is becoming a huge problem in our region again.”
The plan also calls for cracking down on unauthorized border crossings using advanced technology, fully staffing customs officers and investing in border infrastructure like outdated ports of entry.
Still, President Trump insists of $5 billion for a border wall and Democrats don’t seem willing to grant that.
The two sides have a little more than two weeks to move out an agreement before federal workers once again stop getting paychecks.
Bustos is traveling back to the district today leaving Washington which has a balmy forecasted high of 36 degrees today.
