Flake says shutting down government to get border wall a bad idea
Aug 24, 2017, 3:43 PM | Updated: Aug 25, 2017, 12:05 pm
PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s threat to shut down the government to get funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico is a poor idea.
“We don’t need a government shutdown. That never ends well,” Flake told Fox News.
“We don’t save money doing it. With regard to border security, I think the president and all of us share the same goal to have a secure border.”
Trump made the threat during his visit in Phoenix on Tuesday. He blamed “obstructionist Democrats” for blocking the wall and said the shutdown may be the motivation they need to start making progress.
“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he said.
Flake said the administration should take a step back and consider the best way to make the border safe, not carry through on a campaign talking point.
“To get a secure border, that’s the goal, not to fulfill a campaign promise of a wall that doesn’t make sense in some areas, certainly Arizona,” he said.
The senator said he would love to show Trump parts of Arizona’s border where a wall simply wouldn’t work.
“I would invite the president to come with me to other areas of the border, like near Douglas, Naco, where you actually have a watershed that flows northward,” Flake said. “If you have a wall – like some envisioned a brick-and-mortar wall — it wouldn’t allow the water to flow through.”
Flake also suggested the administration meet with those who live on the border and may have some ideas to help secure the area.
“If we work with the ranchers, the property owners on the border, they know what’s needed there and that’s what we’ve been trying to do in Arizona,” he said.
The Arizona Republican Party said it was told Trump would visit the border during this week’s stop in Arizona, but it was later removed from the president’s schedule. Trump visited a Marine air base and met with Border Patrol officials in Yuma prior to the Phoenix rally.
The US-Mexico border currently has 654 miles of fencing. It’s about one-third the length of the Great Wall of China. Nearly half of the fence sits in Arizona.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
