West Wing Reads

"Engineers Begin Preparatory Work for Border Wall Construction" - Ron Nixon, The New York Times The New York Times details how the United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun preliminary preparations to begin construction of a wall along the border with Mexico. Last week, the House appropriations committee approved spending $1.6 billion to get started on building the wall. Homeland Security officials told the Times they plan to build four to eight prototypes to the existing border walls in San Diego to determine which barriers are "most effective in giving Border Patrol agents time to respond to illegal drugs and human smuggling." Click here to read more. ------------ In more immigration news, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that since President Trump entered office, illegal border crossings have "crashed by almost 70 percent, 'an historic low,' arrests inside the country have jumped 40 percent and demands for illegal criminals in local jails has skyrocketed 80 percent." ------------ Today, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity met for the first time. The Daily Signal highlighted there's been 1,071 cases of proven instances of voter fraud across the US. Commission member Hans von Spakovsky said that the goal of the commission is to "take a look at the entire American election process, from the voter registration system, to the casting of ballots, to counting of ballots, to the security – including cybersecurity – that surrounds all of this." ------------ Yesterday, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration supports the FCC chair's efforts to review and consider rolling back so-called "Net Neutrality" rules. Maureen Collins in The Federalist says that while "the name 'net neutrality' may sound appealing, commonsensical, or even modern," it has several Constitutional challenges. "When you strip down the internet jargon and flashy activist promotions, net neutrality is nothing more than a New Deal-era power grab," she writes. ------------ In celebrating Made in America week, columnist Michelle Malkin in National Review featured some of the entrepreneurs invited to showcase their products at the White House. She noted how many started out with modest means, only to build companies worth millions and employ thousands. She questions the Washington snark at such an event writing: "It's a crying shame that D.C. is infested with effete talking heads whose only successfully manufactured product is condescending hostility toward the real movers and shakers in America."