Gosar: No Border Funding Would Be Trump's 'Read My Lips; No New Wall'

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Thursday that he continues to urge President Donald Trump to veto the spending bill if it does not contain border wall funding.

As the House of Representatives continues to consider a continuing resolution (CR) that would not fund President Trump’s border wall, Trump signaled Thursday that he does not want to move forward with the spending bill if it does not contain border security funding.

Congressman Gosar told Breitbart News that he continues to urge the president to fight for border wall funding.

“This is no time to settle,” Gosar said. “This is the perfect time to fight.”

If the CR does not contain wall funding, the Arizona conservative said Trump should “absolutely” veto the spending bill.

The Freedom Caucus introduced an amendment to the CR on Wednesday night that would provide $5 billion in border wall funding and end the “catch and release” border policies. Gosar said the House Rules Committee, controlled by GOP leadership, blocked the amendment, ruling that it was not “in order.”

Gosar then revealed that he reached out to Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, a former Freedom Caucus congressman, to tell the president to hold strong on border wall funding.

Rep. Gosar said, “In fact, I texted Mick Mulvaney my idea and to tell the president to ‘hold strong; get something for this.’”

The Arizona Republican also said that if Trump does not get border wall funding, it could have disastrous effects for the 2020 elections and said that “Build the Wall” could become another moniker akin to former President George H.W. Bush’s “Read my lips; no new taxes.”

“If the president signs something like that without border funding, I think it becomes very synonymous to George Bush’s ‘Read my lips; no new wall,’” Gosar said.

The congressman then said he will continue to fight both Republican and Democrat leadership to fulfill his promise to the American people.

“All we kept hearing from leadership is that Schumer won’t put Pelosi in a precarious position to get the votes. You know what? Leadership is tough. And I’m not making it easy for any of them. I’m fighting my leadership, and I’ll be fighting their leadership, so the point is: let’s do what’s right for the American people. Trust is a series of promises kept, a promise that we made four times over. The same play call has been called before, and it doesn’t work; it’s time to invent a new idea,” he said.

During the House Freedom Caucus’s special order on Wednesday, Rep. Gosar, a doctor, spoke about how America’s insecure border has only worsened the country’s opioid crisis. Gosar told Breitbart News that opioids flowing through our porous border only worsens the opioid crisis.

“When you start looking at the importation of illegal drugs, the majority of them are coming through Mexico. We’re the aorta, the largest transportation vehicle,” Gosar said. “You have to understand that most of the fentanyl in this country is coming through the southern border.”

Gosar said, “We need to do our job, and that’s planting the flag, holding our ground. It’s not going to be fun, but if we do it with the American public in mind, you can’t lose.”

“I think it’s time for people to demand something better of Congress. The same old playbook doesn’t work, it’s a cop-out, and it’s complacency,” Gosar concluded. “We ought to make the stand right now.”