Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday called for an end to the current government shutdown, telling reporters that there are parts of the government that can reopen that “don’t have anything to do with border security.”
{mosads}“The operations of the Department of Interior and the National Park Service or the operations of the IRS and whether or not tax refunds go out don’t have anything to do with border security,” she said.
“So let’s bifurcate these issues,” Murkowski continued. “Let’s set them aside. Let’s allow for the operations, these governmental functions in these six other departments, allow for them to continue.”
Murkowski also said Tuesday that she thinks “we can walk and chew gum,” according to CNN.
Her comments came ahead of President Trump’s prime-time address Tuesday night in which he argued that a wall is necessary to combat a “growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border.
The partial government shutdown, currently in its 19th day, was prompted because Trump refused to sign a government funding bill that didn’t include at least $5 billion for the wall.
Murkowski on Tuesday said Congress can reopen the government and still debate Trump’s “very legitimate concerns about border security.”
“We here in Congress working with the president and his team, we can focus on his very legitimate concerns about border security,” she said. “We can do that through the Homeland Security appropriations bill. Let’s focus on that one and those issues.”