Republican lawmaker wants to charge porn viewers to fund the border wall
A Republican lawmaker in Arizona has proposed an unusual — albeit not entirely unprecedented — proposal seeking to fund Donald Trump's border wall demands by charging tech users who wish to watch pornography online.
Gail Griffin, an 84-year-old senator serving in the Arizona House of Representatives, recently unveiled House Bill 2444, a measure that, if passed, would install a block on all software sold in the state capable of accessing the internet.
Consumers would be unable to access sites featuring pornography under the new legislation, unless they were willing to prove their age and pay a fee to the Arizona Commerce Authority.
Users would be required to prove they are 18-years-old or above and forced to pay $20 (£15) in order for the block to be removed.
The money sourced from the new proposal would go towards the newly-created John McCain Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Fund and used for one of any 10 priorities, Arizona Republic reported.
The top issue on that list of priorities reads: “Build a border wall between Mexico and this state or fund security.”
Legislation has been proposed across the country seeking to restrict or limit access to digital pornography, with bills in South Carolina, Alabama and Kentucky all seeking similar outcomes.
Still, the Arizona bill is novel in that it seeks to fund the president’s border wall demands rather than simply making it more difficult for porn viewers to access content online.
Ms Griffin did not respond to enquiries.
The proposal has stirred headlines and controversy as the US enters another week of the government shutdown — the longest in American history.
Mr Trump has refused to back down from his demands for $5.7bn to be included in the next federal spending bill for his campaign promise of building a wall along the US-Mexico border.
The president has walked back reports that he would invoke a national security crisis over the US-Mexico border — a move that could provide Mr Trump federal funding to begin building the wall but would likely face lengthy legal challenges.
