Sen. John Garamendi, who has introduced a bill to keep President Donald Trump from reallocating money from other funds to finance a border wall, on Thursday dismissed Sen. Lindsey Graham's comments agreeing with Trump on the matter as "foolish."
"I'm wondering if the president were to go into his state and rip money out of his projects, if he would have the same rather foolish statement," the California Democrat told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"We're a constitutional government and we are governed by the constitution. Graham and I and the president have all sworn to uphold the Constitution. It is the Congress that levies the taxes and appropriates the money."
Trump will be submitting his recommendations to Congress in three weeks on what the government should do, including on the wall and border security, and decisions will be made, said Garamendi, as it "should be done."
Meanwhile, a bipartisan agreement has been reached on border security, said Garamendi, and Trump should sign the bill, and then prepare his justification for the wall.
Garamendi said he has not read through the more than 1,000 pages contained in the new bill, and he doubts many lawmakers have.
"I've been aware of the key elements in the seven appropriation bills that are in this," he said. "There is a lot of money in that for border security. All of the elements are there."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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