Trump plans to ask for another $8.6B to fund border wall: report

By: Mark M.

US President Trump will ask Congress for $8.6 billion in the budget he’ll introduce on Monday to help pay for the wall he has demanded be built on the southern border, according to a report on Sunday.

Trump has been battling with Congress over the wall – a signature issue of his 2016 campaign – and has declared a national emergency at the border so he can divert money from other sources to pay for it.

But the declaration has been blocked in the House, and the Senate must vote on it this week.

The budget proposal “gives the president the ability to say he has fulfilled his commitment to gain operational control of the southwest border,” an administration official told Reuters.

“We have provided the course of action, the strategy and the request to finish the job. It’s a question of, will Congress allow us to finish the job,” another administration official said.

Trump’s proposal is based on a 2017 plan by Customs and Border Protection to build or replace 722 miles of wall along the border – which is estimated to cost about $18 billion.

So far, only 111 miles of barrier have either been built or are underway.

The $8.6 billion would include $5 billion from the Department of Homeland Security and $3.6 billion from the Pentagon’s construction budget.

The budget proposal would include another $3.6 billion in military construction to fund projects delayed by the wall.

His budget also includes a plan to hire more than 2,800 law enforcement and other personnel for the agencies and 100 immigration judge teams, the report said.

The government shutdown for 35 days beginning in December after Congress and the White House deadlocked on funding for the wall.

Trump wanted $5.7 billion but Congress appropriated only $1.375 billion.

In February, Trump declared a national emergency at the border, a maneuver that the White House claims would allow him to divert funds from other agencies.

But the Democratic-controlled House approved a resolution blocking the declaration.

The GOP-majority Senate will vote on the measure this week, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded that there aren’t enough votes to defeat it.

Four Republicans – Sen. Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Thom Tillis – publicly said they oppose Trump’s declaration in the chamber the GOP controls by 53-47.

Trump would have to issue his first veto, and neither the House nor the Senate appears to have the two-third majority needed to override it.

At that point, the emergency declaration is expected to be tied up in court challenges.