Walden, Wyden, Merkley react to President Trump address

Rep Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., offered their reactions Tuesday night to President Trump’s Oval Office address on border security.

Walden said in a statement:

“The President made a forceful case for increased border security, which I have supported and will continue to support. It’s essential to any country’s security to have meaningful border security. I supported securing our border with barriers, walls, technology and fences more than a decade ago. Congress should come together with the President to finish the job.

“But I don’t agree that it makes sense to furlough the people working on the biological opinion in the Klamath Basin, forest fuels reductions in Central Oregon, or grazing permits in Eastern Oregon. How does a nearly month-long work stoppage benefit taxpayers who are waiting for decisions and plans and permits? And we know not many people can afford to miss a paycheck, so I have empathy for the federal workers and their families who are caught up in this.”

Wyden offered his reaction in a pair of tweets:

“Trump, who ordered the government to split up migrant families and lock children in cages, now claims to be concerned about a humanitarian crisis at the border. Trump’s ‘border crisis’ is one of his own making. His entire immigration agenda is based in racism and fear-mongering.”

“Democrats are for opening the government and securing the border. Trump is holding the country hostage over his failure to fulfill a campaign talking point.”

Merkley’s statement said:

“Let’s be very clear: The only ‘crisis’ at the southern border is the humanitarian crisis President Trump and his administration created by ripping babies away from their parents’ arms and locking up children. The solution to this shutdown is simple: Pass the Republican-written bills to fund the government that the House and Senate have already agreed upon. The path out of this shutdown has been the same since day one, and a misleading and misinformed speech does absolutely nothing to change the facts.”