Americans should not pay for a wall along the southern border, according to Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore.
“I am not in favor of the wall, but if there is a wall, then I do not want the United States of America to pay for the wall,” Moore said in an interview with CBS News.
Moore is slated to introduce legislation on Thursday, according to CBS, that would block funding for a border wall, one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises.
The legislation is titled the “No Taxpayer Funding for the Wall Act” and would prohibit any federal funding — including funding already appropriated — from going toward wall construction, CBS reported.
The bill also would block states from using federal funding to build the wall and require the Trump administration to enter into a Senate-approved treaty requiring another country to foot the wall bill. Moore’s measure would also mandate audits of the project and levy penalties on entities that violate its terms.
So far “more than three-dozen” Democrats have signed on as bill co-sponsors, CBS reported. Moore, however, is also eager to recruit fiscal conservatives and Republicans wary of Trump’s plans for her effort.
“My bill gives amazing opportunities, I think, to people like [Ohio Republican Rep.] Jim Jordan to opt out of building the wall,” she told CBS. “I’m trying to mobilize some interest in my bill from deficit hawks.”
During the campaign, then-candidate Trump said that Mexico would pay for the wall — a contention that the Mexican government has so far rejected. In the absence of a direct check from Mexico, Republican leaders have said the United States will front the money and find ways to pay for it via alternative methods.
“There is a buffet of options that we have in order to pay for this wall. We need to pay for the wall. We will build the wall, and it’s going to get done,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told CBS’ “Face the Nation” last month — noting the possibility of paying for the wall via a tax on goods crossing the border, fines on illegal immigrants, and “through tax reform in a formula on import and export taxes and credits.”
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