Amid Opposition, Trump Makes Low Budget Request for Mexico Border Wall
Julia Edwards Ainsley
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A worker chats with residents at a newly built section of the US-Mexico border fence at Sunland Park, US opposite the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 26, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez/Files
Washington: President Donald Trump is asking congress for $1.6 billion to begin building a wall along the border with Mexico, far short of the amount needed for a project sharply criticised by Democrats and even some conservative Republicans.
An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan in February estimated the total cost for the wall at $21.6 billion but the White House's budget proposal for 2018, details of which were released on Monday, included a request for just $1.6 billion.
Two Republican aides in congress said the modest request is an acknowledgement from the White House that full funding is not realistic given opposition from Freedom Caucus conservatives in the House of Representatives as well as Democrats in the House and the Senate.
They said that unless Trump is able to rally broader support and win more funding for construction in another fiscal year, his plans for a "big beautiful wall" that he promised during his election campaign last year may not be realised.
The $1.6 billion would allow the administration to build small parts of the proposed wall.
Trump has said he will find a way for Mexico to repay the US for construction of the wall but that congress would need to fund it first.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus said earlier this year that Trump would have to show how he would offset the cost of a wall, while Democrats flatly oppose the proposed wall.
Facing opposition, the White House pulled its request for full funding for the wall in the 2017 fiscal year and said it would revisit the issue in the next budget.
One of the aides said Trump still lacks the support needed. "Nothing has changed politically on the wall."
So far, the Department of Homeland Security has solicited bids for prototypes of a wall using $20 million in existing funds, but no government contractors have been selected to begin construction.
A DHS memo shared with a Senate committee last month said the agency would be able to build 34 miles (55 km) of a levee wall in Texas's Rio Grande Valley and replace 14 miles (23 km) of fence in San Diego with $1 billion.
(Reuters)
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