It shouldn't come as a surprise that President Donald Trump is seeking $8.6 billion for his border wall fight in his new budget, but the plan will likely go through "some editing" before a consensus vote would be reached, Rep. Michael Waltz said Monday.
"The president has been clear about supporting the border," the Florida Republican told CNN's "New Day."
"I think it's also worth reminding that that $5.7 billion wasn't a figure that the White House made up. That came from Border Patrol. The president shifted on his rhetoric to say these are strategically placed barriers in places where the Border Patrol has requested them."
He said the president's push will get Republican support, but lawmakers need to get past the border control issue so they can work to get meaningful legal immigration reform, said Waltz.
Waltz on Monday also discussed Trump's claims that the ISIS caliphate has been defeated, saying that Trump is right to a degree, but added that ISIS is still active and growing as a movement.
"If we don't fight it over there in places like Kabul and Damascus, it will follow us home," said Waltz. "We saw that when President [Barack] Obama pulled out of Iraq and that's when we saw attacks all over Europe in places like San Bernardino and Orlando. That hasn't happened because we stayed on offense for the last two years. But we have to keep our foot on the necks of these terrorist groups."
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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