Posted on 12/21/2018 12:07:13 AM PST by Revel
A grassroots online campaign to fund President Trumps proposed border wall roared past $8.7 million on Thursday, but questions remained about whether the feds would be able to accept the gift.
As of Thursday evening, 143,821 people had donated $8,742,182 toward Air Force veteran Brian Kolfages GoFundMe campaign, titled We the People Will Fund the Wall, just a little over three days after its launch.
The pledge drive aims to raise $1 billion to uphold our laws, and get this wall BUILT! Kolfage, a Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs and an arm in Iraq, wrote on the campaigns Web page. Its up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a longtime proponent of tighter border security, hailed the vets impressive campaign, even as he expressed reservations about allowing private citizens to govern with their wallets.
I think its admirable, and I think that the country should respond, Goodlatte told The Post. Obviously, we cant let citizens raise money and say, The government will spend my money on this purpose.
According to the Treasury Department, general donations to the feds are directed to a Gifts to the United States fund, set aside for general use by the federal government or budget needs.
Specific federal agencies cant touch this funding without a congressional appropriation.
Some agencies can accept gifts directly for earmarked purposes, but it was not clear if the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the borders, was among them.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Cant the private landowners whose property is along the border agree to private wall construction?”
Not only that, but the Kelo v. City of New London emninent domain SCOTUS decicion would likely allow private wall construction to go forward anyway through private companies even if they don’t agree. I believe authorization for wall construction would already be approved through the secure fence act that George W Bush signed. So it shouldn’t matter if funds went directly to private contractors.
If nothing else, it sends a very loud message to the congress and senate.
Raised by 189,782 people in 4 days
https://www.gofundme.com/TheTrumpWall
An antique form of “crowdfunding” restored both The USS Constitution and The Statue of Liberty.
There IS a precedent, and the money should be accepted.
I think this article may be intended to discourage donations and downplay the success of the campaign because its embarrassing to the anti-wall congress critters.
You are correct. The Democrats, RINOs, and the Media will be working overtime to discourage people from making a contribution.”
And I’m a bit concerned why, with the dozens of articles out there, this one makes it into “Breaking News”
So nice of republicans to step right up and explain why something can't be done. Saves the dems the trouble.
Black robed POS marxist/communist/leftist federal judge to claim “unconstitutional” in 3...2...1
There aren't enough hearing aids in the world to get them to listen. They ignore us.
“I would not want liberals raising money to do their own government activity.”
Like building concentration camps and gas chambers...
(Which you KNOW they want to build.)
The key word in the title of the article is “May”. On the other hand, the Gofundme guy may not. We’ll see.
Gofundme gets a “tip” of minimum 10%.They have good reason not to pull the plug.
It was allocated for governmental use, not private .
Thanks for using all caps, as I couldnt have understood otherwise...
Not true. You can choose not to tip.
I donated last night and have not received an E-mail-—is this normal?
.
I seem to recall that the Statue of Liberty was bought, erected and paid for by school children donating pennies.
“Specific federal agencies cant touch this funding without a congressional appropriation. “
So get it done NOW - before the evil ones take over - they’d use the money to ‘impeach impeach impeach’
Congress could add during reconciliation a simple line that “Donations may be received from any source to supplement the $5 billion authorization.” Or wording similar so that the money could be accepted and explicitly used to help build the wall—hey, in Trump parlance, to make it 10 feet taller.
It was allocated for border wall construction. I neither stated nor implies it was designated for “private purposes”
And the caps were used for emphasis. Sorry you have a problem with them.
Hey- bob, do you want to keep your JOB WORKING FOR US THE PUBLIC ???
I think its admirable, and I think that the country should respond, Goodlatte told The Post. Obviously, we cant let citizens raise money and say, The government will spend my money on this purpose.
WHAT'S WRONG bob ? IS IT TOO MUCH TROUBLE TO STEAL MONEY IF IT'S NOT IN THE GENERAL FUND ?
According to the Treasury Department, general donations to the feds are directed to a Gifts to the United States fund, set aside for general use by the federal government or budget needs.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a longtime proponent of tighter border security, hailed the vets impressive campaign, even as he expressed reservations about allowing private citizens to govern with their wallets. I think its admirable, and I think that the country should respond, Goodlatte told The Post. Obviously, we cant let citizens raise money and say, The government will spend my money on this purpose.
According to the Treasury Department, general donations to the feds are directed to a Gifts to the United States fund, set aside for general use by the federal government or budget needs. Specific federal agencies cant touch this funding without a congressional appropriation.
THEN APPROPRIATE IT !!!
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