News and Commentary

AGAIN: President Trump To Request $8.6 Billion For Border Wall In 2020 Budget

   DailyWire.com

President Donald Trump will try a third time to get the funding needed to build his signature anti-illegal immigration measure, a complete wall across the United States’ southern border.

This time, though, the president will up the ante, requesting a staggering $8.6 billion to finish major sections of the wall and begin construction in earnest ahead of the 2020 presidential elections, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.

“The demand,” Reuters says, “which drew swift criticism from Democrats, is more than six times what Congress allocated for border projects in each of the past two fiscal years, and 6 percent more than Trump has corralled by invoking emergency powers this year.”

The number incorporates not just what the White House would need to “continue” building the wall in 2020, but back pay for what the White House believes it should have received in the 2018 and 2019 budgets ($1.6 billion and $5.2 billion, respectively). So far, the White House has only managed to cajole Congress into just over $1 billion to slightly extend existing sections of the border wall.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who resisted the White House’s efforts to incorporate the $5.2 billion wall request into the 2019 budget, was none too impressed with the proposal, according to USA Today.

“President Trump hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall,” she said, in a joint statement with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued late Sunday evening.

“Congress refused to fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson,” the pair added.

The president is clearly still stinging from two defeats on the 2019 budget, one in December and one in January. Although the Trump administration had requested major funding for the border wall, Republicans and Democrats could not agree to a budget that fully incorporated border wall funding, and the 2019 budget that eventually passed just shy of an early February deadline included only a bare minimum amount of wall funding.

As a result, the White House was forced to come up with more creative solutions to fund the border wall. Trump initially proposed a “national emergency” declaration that would divert funds from other military projects, but both Republicans and Democrats sided against the White House’s proposal, and both the House (Democrat-controlled) and the Senate (Republican-controlled) issued resolutions committing to vote down any attempt at declaring a national emergency.

Late last week, the White House proposed a “combination” plan that would include a limited national emergency with other sources of funding, but that was pronounced dead on arrival.

Over the weekend, the president took to Twitter to defend his performance on the border wall, which many of his 2016 supporters felt was a cornerstone of his campaign, and lash out at his most vocal critics.

“Wacky Nut Job @AnnCoulter, who still hasn’t figured out that, despite all odds and an entire Democrat Party of Far Left Radicals against me (not to mention certain Republicans who are sadly unwilling to fight), I am winning on the Border. Major sections of Wall are being built…,” the president tweeted.

“….and renovated, with MUCH MORE to follow shortly. Tens of thousands of illegals are being apprehended (captured) at the Border and NOT allowed into our Country. With another President, millions would be pouring in. I am stopping an invasion as the Wall gets built. #MAGA,” he concluded.

An official 2020 White House budget won’t appear until later this year.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  AGAIN: President Trump To Request $8.6 Billion For Border Wall In 2020 Budget