Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Tuesday that he will ask President Donald Trump to use his $5 billion set aside for border wall construction to combat gun violence and white supremacy.
Schumer’s office said he would formally petition Trump to put the money towards the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct research into gun violence extremism, FBI domestic terrorism programs, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs to fight counter-violent extremism.
“The dual scourges of gun violence and violent white supremacist extremism in this country are a national security threat, plain and simple, and it’s time the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress starting treating them as such,” Schumer said in a statement.
“Now Republicans and this administration need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to addressing gun violence and stopping the rise of domestic terrorism, especially stemming from white supremacy,” the statement continued.
Trump diverted about several billion dollars in Pentagon funding for the border wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico by declaring a national emergency in February.
Schumer announced his plan after CQ Roll Call reported that Senate Republicans sought to use $5 billion in domestic spending to fund the border wall.
But the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have pressured lawmakers on both sides to address gun violence.
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