Just A Brick In The Wall

On July 27th the House passed H.R. 3219, the Make America Secure Appropriations Act of 2018. The act includes about $790 billion in spending including $1.6 billion in funding for a US/Mexico border wall, long a campaign promise of the Trump Administration. The bill is now pending before the Senate.

Why this matters

The border wall has become a symbolic issue for the Republican Party since naming Donald Trump as their nominee in 2016. While most immigration experts agree that a physical wall will cost many billions of dollars and contribute little to border security, the GOP sees it as a much-needed, if largely symbolic commitment to border security.

According to the Washington Post, the MASA Act also runs afoul of the 2011 Budget Control Act, topping the allowed defense spending cap by $72 billion and thereby triggering the automatic sequestration provisions in the BCA, requiring that the Pentagon take a 13% haircut. Only cooperation with Congressional Democrats on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction could stay sequestration if the MASA Act became law.

Tell Congress what you think!

Text RESIST to 50409 to tell your representatives or Senators what you think about this or any other issue before Congress.

Who to talk to

The entire United States Senate will have an opportunity to weigh in on the MASA Act and so any messages to any Senators can affect the fate of the bill but because of the impending Pentagon sequestration trigger, the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction wield the real power on the Hill for the purposes of this bill. They are:

Senate Members

• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Max Baucus (D-MT)
• John Kerry (D-MA)
• Jon Kyle (R-AZ)
• Rob Portman (R-OH)
• Pat Toomey (R-PA)

House Members

• Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
• Jim Clyburn (D-SC)
• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
• Jeb Hensarling (R-TX*)*
• Fred Upton (R-MI)
• Dave Camp (R-MI)