SAN ANTONIO — U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and other state and national leaders for a roundtable discussion and news conference on issues affecting the Texas/Mexico border.
Cruz and Cuellar discussed bipartisan efforts to expedite approval of four bridge projects along the Texas-Mexico border.
Sen. Cruz discussed how the approval of the four bridge projects would benefit everyone across the board in south Texas and in the United States. He said that the bridges would be beneficial for the ecomony by creating more jobs, higher wages and more trade in commerce resulting in less US dependency on China. He also said these bridges are "good for Texas farmers, good for Texas ranchers and good for Texas manufacturers."
They each said they are including language in the House and Senate's must-pass budget bills to allow for the funding of the bridges.
“One way or the other, at the end of the year, this will get done," Rep. Cuellar said. "We are here because trade is important. We are almost reaching a trillion dollars in trade, so every minute we are here, we are losing over a million dollars in trade with Mexico. So bridges are very important."
This all comes in the middle of a dispute between Governor Abbott and the U.S. government over border buoys that were recently placed along the Rio Grande River to prevent migrants from crossing. Abbott has until 1 p.m. Monday to remove them, or the federal government will take legal action.
The floating barriers were installed along the river two weeks ago. The 4-foot wide spheres are also located next to newly installed razor wire in the Rio Grande.
Last Thursday, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the governor saying his actions to install bouys near Eagle Pass "violate federal law". The governor responded the next day with a tweet saying Texas has "sovereign authority" to defend its border.