Joe Crowley, House Democratic Caucus chairman, warns against border wall funding

The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus said Tuesday he hopes the Trump administration abandons its plans to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing it is misguided and too costly.

Rep. Joe Crowley of New York told reporters on Capitol Hill that he hopes lawmakers shoot down the White House’s request for border wall funding, describing it as “an incredibly wrong approach to our dealing with our southern border.”

“It absolutely does nothing for our economy,” Mr. Crowley said. “It is a waste of anywhere between $26 [billion] and $40 billion. You can’t drive on it. You can’t use it for anything but to keep people out.”

President Trump, though, has showed no signs of backing off the pledge he made on the campaign trail last year to complete a wall as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration.

He sent Congress a “supplemental” spending request last month for the fiscal year that called for an additional $30 million in war funding and $3 billion for border security — including $1 billion for the planning and constructing a wall.

House Republicans, meanwhile, introduced a bill last week that called on the federal government to raise billions of dollars for the wall by imposing a 2 percent fee on all the money Mexicans here and other immigrants send back home.

Senate Republicans, though, have suggested that the border wall debate will have to wait until lawmakers finalize a full-year omnibus bill that would wrap up the 11 unfinished annual appropriation bills for the current fiscal year that runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

Congress passed a short-term funding bill late last year to keep the government running through April 28. Now they need to reach an agreement to avert a government shutdown.

Mr. Crowley said Tuesday he has heard rumors that GOP leaders could demand that border wall funding is included in a separate deal, which is set to be debated over the coming months, over raising the nation’s debt limit.

“I will not vote for a bill like that,” he said. “We want a clean debt ceiling.”