Arizona congressman blasts removal of anti-border wall wording from bill

PHOENIX — Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego has criticized a House floor tactic he said takes funding away from defense to the border wall, calling it a “sneaky gimmick.”

Gallego made his remarks Tuesday before the House voted in favor of a “self-executing” rule that allowed anti-wall language to be pulled from the National Defense Authorization Act.

“We must not allow resources to be robbed from our troops just to satisfy Trump’s fragile ego,” the congressman said.

Republicans used a sneaky gimmick to allow Trump to take $$ from our troops to pay for his ridiculous border wall. Watch me call them out. pic.twitter.com/1RQ9z3Or4m

— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) July 12, 2017

Instead of the House voting whether to remove that part of the defense act, the committee voted to include the self-executing amendment.

“They passed this rule late at night with hardly anyone watching,” he said from the floor.

Gallego had proposed an amendment in June that would have barred using Pentagon funds authorized by the NDAA to build the border wall promised by President Donald Trump.

“Once again, Speaker (Paul) Ryan and the House Republicans are doing President Trump’s dirty work,” Gallego, a Democrat, said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Marine said Republicans were “resorting to legislative gimmickry to do Trump’s bidding. With this self-executing rule, they are attempting to slip one past Congress and the American people.”

Gallego also posted a series of tweets about the maneuvering after the vote.

Rs are going to remove an #NDAA provision that prevents @POTUS from raiding DOD $$ for his unnecessary & costly border wall. 1/

— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) July 12, 2017

.@POTUS shouldn't be allowed to raid $ meant for our troops to fulfill a campaign promise that won’t make us any safer. 3/

— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) July 12, 2017

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