Congress needs to fund the border wall. The GOP is doing everything they can to convince Democrats that it’s the right thing to do in order to fund the government and defend our borders. They’re even going so far as to invoke the talking point I despise the most.

For the next few days, you’ll hear many Republican lawmakers and pundits using the 0.11% excuse. What they’re saying is that the $5 billion the President is requesting as a down payment on the border wall only represents 0.11% of federal spending. This talking point emerged last month and didn’t get a ton of traction then, but it’s making a comeback now.

If you’re planning on using this figure, stop. It’s embarrassing. It’s a stark reminder that under total GOP control, the federal budget has gone up, not down. The Republican Party is supposed to be the more fiscally responsible of the two major parties, but that hasn’t played out in reality.

By invoking the 0.11% number as a reason the Democrats should bend on this issue, they’re playing right into the leftists’ hands. This is their talking point. It manifests in a few different ways. Sometimes they’ll say something like, “For the cost of a single F-22, we could give a living wage to everyone in San Francisco.” Sometimes, they’ll use the same exact talking point as the Republicans are using now, only for their own pet project.

This is not the direction the Republican Party should be going. I’d much prefer to see them make major cuts to spending in order to pay for the border wall, not belittling the $5 billion number as if it’s not that significant.

It’s significant. Plastering it against our bloated spending is no way to sell it to Democrats or the pubic.

Stay true to your roots, Republicans. Don’t pitch the border wall by downplaying the cost. Boldly say that it’s a high but necessary expense. Explain how it will save taxpayer dollars in other ways. Just stop saying $5 billion is no big deal. It is.

I said more on my Twitter rant this evening.

So, the wall allocation would only be 0.11% of the budget. When Republicans can say that after having control for 2 years, they should say it with shame. They're now using a Democratic talking point by claiming that $5 billion is no big deal. — JD Rucker (@JDRucker) December 23, 2018

How about we restart budget talks by making cuts everywhere possible. Surely it can't be that hard to cut 0.11% out of all the extraneous things we're budgeting for now. Cut those and say adding the wall will be a wash. Or, better yet, make even more significant cuts. — JD Rucker (@JDRucker) December 23, 2018