The bill that would fund a roughly $23 billion wall along the southern border was introduced in Congress last week.

The Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018, H.R. 7059, also includes measures to cut off funds to sanctuary cities and facilitates the deportation of immigrant gang members.

“For decades, America’s inability to secure our borders and stop illegal immigration has encouraged millions to undertake a dangerous journey to come here in violation of our laws and created huge loopholes in the legal channels we use to welcome immigrants to our country,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the bill’s sponsor, said. “President Trump’s election was a wakeup call to Washington. The American People want us to build the Wall and enforce the law.”

A Quinnipiac University poll from August 2018 found that 38 percent of Americans support the construction of a wall along the southern border while 58 percent oppose it.

“Today, I introduced legislation that commits the House to these goals,” McCarthy said. “This bill combats sanctuary cities, transnational gangs like MS-13, human trafficking, and deadly drugs like fentanyl. It supports federal law enforcement like ICE. And it fully funds the Wall by appropriating the full amount requested by President Trump for its construction, bringing the total amount of funding to $25 billion. Maintaining strong borders is one of the basic responsibilities of any nation. For too long, America has failed in this responsibility. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill and recommit our nation to defending its borders.”

https://homelandprepnews.com/stories/30891-rep-mccarthy-introduces-bill-to-fund-up-to-23b-for-border-wall/

U.S. President Donald Trump heaped more criticism on the Federal Reserve in an interview with Fox Business Network on Tuesday, extending his discontent beyond its chairman, Jerome Powell, whom he has frequently critiqued in public.

“My biggest threat is the Fed,” he said, according to excerpts released before the interview with “Trish Regan Primetime” airs. “I put a couple of other people there I’m not so happy with too but for the most part I’m very happy with people.”

Last week, Trump criticized the U.S. central bank twice, saying it was raising interest rates so swiftly that it threatened the country’s economic health. Nonetheless, in the face of a hot labour market and signs of inflation, the Fed has settled into a gradual policy tightening and is expected to raise interest rates again in December.

Past U.S. presidents have been reticent to criticize the central bank because its independence is seen as important for economic stability. But Trump in the past week has called the Fed “crazy,” “loco,” “ridiculous,” and “too cute.”

Trump has said he is not trying to oust Powell, whom he appointed to replace former Chair Janet Yellen. The president also appointed two of the three other policy-makers on the Fed’s powerful Board of Governors, Randal Quarles and Richard Clarida.

“Can I be honest? I’m not blaming anybody,” Trump said in the interview. “I put (Powell) there. And maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, but I put him there.”

The Fed independently makes policy decisions but regularly reports to Congress. Data since the Fed’s last meeting in September has been in line with its portrait of a strong economy, and policy-makers have said they expect to continue a rate-hike cycle that began in late 2015.

Republican U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling, who is set to retire as chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that oversees the central bank, said Trump “clearly has his own style.” But “I don’t think the fact that he has publicly criticized the Fed, in any way shape or form, is going to impinge upon (its) independence,” he told Reuters.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-trump-criticizes-federal-reserve-says-central-bank-is-his-biggest/?cmpid=rss