January 31, 2019 03:10 PM UTC

In Blaming Democrats For The Government Shutdown, Gardner Misled Reporters About A Previous U.S. Senate Vote

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

During the recent government shutdown, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) blamed Democrats for the impasse, and essentially called them hypocrites, because they’d voted last year for a $25 billion bipartisan compromise that included funds for a border wall.

And therefore, Gardner said repeatedly, Democrats should have no problem approving over $5 billion for a wall this time around.

For example, Gardner told FOX News’ “Fox and Friends” in December:

“Months ago [U.S. Senate Democrats] supported $25 billion in border security funding. Now they support less than a fifth of that. This is a massive cut in border security that the Democrats are now proposing…” “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say, ‘Just a few months ago, you agreed to $25 billion in border security; why are you trying to cut border security now?’ And I hope they will agree, ‘Yes, let’s get this done.'”

But in saying this, Gardner repeatedly misled reporters, because the $25 billion bipartisan border-security deal, approved in February of last year in a 54-45 U.S. Senate vote, also included a 12-year path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants.

It’s glaring manipulation for Gardner to leave this out, given how important a path to citizenship has been for Democrats and Dreamers.

In January, toward the end of the recent shutdown, Trump offered Democrats a border-security deal that included some relief for young undocumented immigrants facing deportation.

But the deal offered by Trump had no path to citizenship for Dreamers, instead offering three years of protection from deportation for fewer immigrants than the February, 2017, package that was supported by U.S. Senate Democrats.

In fact, Trump’s offer toward the end of the shutdown didn’t do much for young immigrants, who are barred from deportation anyway pending court decisions.

But Gardner continued to be relentless, on multiple media platforms, in insisting that Democrats had once supported the Trump deal that was on the table.

In mid-January, Gardner said on KVOR’s Jeff Crank Show (at 1 min 30 sec):

“Just a few months ago, we had $25 billion worth of border security that both Democrats and Republicans voted for.”

Again, in this interview and others, he didn’t mention that the deal included a path to citizenship for Dreamers.