The South Dakota Senate Republicans are urging Congress to fund construction of a southern border wall through a senate concurrent resolution.
The State Senate voted along party lines, 28 to five. The legislative body debated the issue for over forty five minutes.
State Senator Stace Nelson brought the concurrent resolution. He says the state legislature must express it’s will to the federal government.
“The state legislators have not healed the federal beast,” Nelson says. “They have not pounded their podiums, they’ve not got their citizens outraged and upset that our federal government is disfunctional. That can be blamed on your state legislators. In this case, I’m doing my job. I’m bringing this, I’m forcing the discussion.”
Congress and the White House are at a budget stalemate, mostly over $5.7 billion dollars for 234 miles of “new physical barrier” along the southern border.
During her state of the state address earlier this week, Governor Kristi Noem announced the deployment of four national guard soldiers and a helicopter to provide aerial detection and monitoring for US Customs and Border Protection.