Experts Available: Budgets and Border Wall

With the December 7th funding deadline quickly approaching, a partial government shutdown seems increasingly likely. If you're looking for expert commentary for your coverage of the budget showdown, these scholars are responsive and available.

Budgets

The George Washington University
Phaup

"This 'budget crisis' has nothing to do with budgeting; it is political theatre."

Case Western Reserve University
White

"The issues that might cause a shutdown now are relatively minor. The issues for 2019's budget fights are much more severe and harder to solve."

Border Wall

North Carolina State University

"Living in rural Mexico and interviewing families involved in migration, I learned that walls won't stop people from migrating. If people really want to come to the United States, or if they feel they have no choice but to migrate, walls just become something else they have to take into consideration."

The University of Texas at El Paso

"The border wall is an expensive, largely ineffective political symbol. It is irrelevant to the current challenges of migration at the border."

Stony Brook University

"Once again, President Trump is trying to ram through his wildly expensive border wall. If he succeeds, the billions of dollars taxpayers would pay for the project would be converted into profits for private companies, and create more incentives for more harsh immigration and border policies. The wall is a massive distraction: from our impossible immigration laws, from America's long responsibility for ongoing migration, and from growing inequality throughout the country."