Remember Brian Kolfage, the Florida Air Force veteran who took border security into his own hands and started a GoFundMe page asking for donations to build a wall on the southern border? His campaign hit a nerve and took off, raising almost $19 million in a couple weeks, making it the second largest campaign of the year.
Members of Congress took note and are taking advantage of the successful campaign. On Thursday, the first day of the 116th Congress, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) reintroduced his “Buy a Brick, Build the Wall Act." The bill would direct the Treasury Department to set up a fund allowing private citizens to make contributions to fund and maintain border walls.
"Buy a Brick, Build the Wall Act" is newly introduced as HR32. It directs @USTreasury to establish a fund allowing private contributions to fund and maintain border walls. Millions of Americans agree and want to chip in to help secure our borders. cc @BrianKolfage pic.twitter.com/FYzIBBW57V
— Warren Davidson (@WarrenDavidson) January 3, 2019
Some of his conservative colleagues are all for it.
The American people have already donated over $18 MILLION to fund the border security wall.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 3, 2019
We need to pass @WarrenDavidson’s bill—Buy a Brick, Build the Wall. He just introduced it today. It would allow the Treasury to use this money to secure our border.
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Yet, Democrats have much different plans for border security. On Thursday, hours after retaking control of the House, they voted for bills that would fund the Department of Homeland Security until Feb. 8 and offer $1.3 billion for the border, not one dollar of which is for a wall. President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a "non-starter." Hence why the government has been shuttered for two weeks now.
Trump and McConnell plan to meet with new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the White House this afternoon to try and hash out a deal.
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