Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he will be forcing a vote in the Senate to see if Democrats have any interest in fixing the humanitarian crisis at the border.
McConnell said he plans on bringing up a deal for a vote next week in order to get Democrats on the record for either blocking or supporting Republicans’ demands to fix the crisis at the border. McConnell says he thinks it is important the American people see who votes against solving the problem for political reasons.
“I’m going to bring it up freestanding next week and see if they really aren’t interested in dealing with this massive humanity that we have to take care of at the border,” McConnell said on Fox & Friends. “What’s the objection? This is not about the wall but about the humanitarian crisis.”
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This comes after the Kentucky Republican praised President Donald Trump on Tuesday for threatening to apply tariffs to Mexico after speaking out against the move last week. (RELATED: McConnell Praises Trump’s Mexico Tariffs After Early Criticism: ‘It Worked’)
“I think the cold, hard reality is, even though almost none of my members were enthusiastic about the prospect of tariffs, you have to give the president credit — it worked,” McConnell said, according to Politico.
A number of Republicans in the Senate stood with Trump’s decision to threaten Mexico with tariffs after several party members spoke out against it. McConnell said last week “there is not much support” in his “conference for tariffs” and that he hoped tariffs would not be implemented. Other senators also decided to speak out against Trump’s threat.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is set to move on Trump’s $4.5 billion request for the emergency funding at the border in committee Thursday.