Is the border wall worth a government shutdown?
President Trump held to his promise to shut down federal government services if Congress didn’t give him $5 billion to build the border wall on the southern border. The president doesn’t have the votes from the Republican-controlled Congress to support funding for the wall at that level, so he needs the support of Democrats.
Learn more about state immigration enforcement in New Hampshire
“Is the wall that President Donald Trump wants to build along the southern border worth risking a government shutdown?"
Discussion held on Citizens Count website and Facebook page December 17, 2018
Yes: 106 citizens felt funding the border wall was worth the risk of a government shutdown.
- “Fund the wall... Stop drug trafficking and child sex trafficking!”
- “Yes. If the federal government can't secure a border, it is pretty much worthless anyways. Also, this would only be shutting down about 14% of the federal government temporarily. Partial, temporary shutdown over something that is of long-term strategic value. Totally worth it.”
- “Our nation’s continued sovereignty and existence depend on it.”
No: 35 citizens felt funding the border wall was not worth the risk of a government shutdown.
- “The latest poll: 37% want the wall and 56% are against it. Can't imagine a bigger waste of money, time, energy, and people. Not to mention the damage to the environment, and wild life.”
- “I keep seeing: ‘We elected him to build a wall.’ I believe you mean that you ‘elected him to build a wall that Mexico would pay for.’ There's a huge difference.”
- “No, let's not build the stupid wall that's been shown after multiple studies to be technically impossible and way more costly than Trump guessed at. Let's instead actually build stronger relationships with Mexico, create real immigration reform, and spend the money on stuff that matters.”
Other: 23 citizens addressed their comments to related questions and issues.
These included:
- Consider priorities: “I think it's laughable that we're freaking out about a wall when Russia is running a psyops campaign against us using our social media platforms and like literal actual spies in both the NRA and the GOP.”
- Logistics of a shutdown: “The actual amount of "government" that "shuts down" is less than 10%.”
- Shut down federal government to save cost: “Shut it down… (But don’t waste the money on the wall).”
*Editor selection of actual participant quotes.
