Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday urged President Trump to reject a congressional spending bill that doesn’t include $5 billion for his long-promised border wall.
“This bill must NOT be signed,” Ingraham said on Twitter, explaining her position in a string of tweets.
{mosads}”So the president has his hand forced to sign a 1,159 page bill that we KNOW is filled with amnesty, PORK and wiggle room?” she asked. “Total SCAM! [Trump] was not elected for this.”
She later said that the bill was “tantamount to an illegal immigration ‘stimulus’ ” and “de facto amnesty to any ‘sponsor,’ family member or ‘potential sponsor’ of an unaccompanied minor.”
“This 1,169 page monstrosity will green light more ‘family units’ crossing illegally—without a doubt,” Ingraham argued, before saying in separate tweet that Honduras and Guatemalan residents would join a caravan heading to the U.S. upon hearing about the bill.
The criticism arrived as Trump considers the border security agreement a group of bipartisan negotiators reached earlier this week. The deal, among other provisions, includes $1.375 billion for roughly 55 miles of new barriers along the southern border, and roughly $23 billion in total border security funds.
The White House said on Wednesday that Trump wasn’t “fully happy” with the agreement. However, it appears likely that the president will sign a bill by Friday to avert another shutdown.
Fox News personalities have posed differing opinions on the new spending bill. Host Sean Hannity said Tuesday night that Trump could agree to the deal so long as he declared a national emergency to direct additional construction of a wall.
Hannity acknowledged that the step would likely face legal challenges.
Fox News contributor Jedediah Bila said late Wednesday that the 35-day government shutdown would have been a “waste of time” if Trump signs the spending bill.
Trump said at a rally in El Paso, Texas, earlier this week that his administration would build a wall along the southern border regardless of whether Congress approved funding for it.