WASHINGTON, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump on Monday will ask the US Congress for an additional US$8.6 billion to help pay for the wall he promised to build on the southern border with Mexico to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The demand is more than six times what Congress allocated for border projects in each of the past two fiscal years, and six per cent more than Trump has corralled by invoking emergency powers this year.
Democrats, who oppose the wall as unnecessary and immoral, control the US House of Representatives, making it unlikely the Republican president’s request will win congressional passage. Republicans control the Senate.
The proposal comes on the heels of a bruising battle with Congress over wall funding that resulted in a five-week partial federal government shutdown that ended in January, and could touch off a sequel just ahead of a trifecta of ominous fiscal deadlines looming this fall.
Funding legislation needs to be passed before Oct 1 – the start of the 2020 federal fiscal year – or the government could shut down again. If Congress and the White House fail to agree to lift mandatory spending caps set in a 2011 law, steep automatic cuts in many programmes would kick in.
Trump’s wall request is based off a 2017 plan put forward by Customs and Border Protection officials to build or replace 1,162 kilometres of barrier along the border, which in total is estimated to cost about US$18 billion.
So far, only 179 kilometres have been built or are underway, officials said. In fiscal 2017, US$341 million in funding was allocated for 64 kilometres of wall, and in 2018, another US$1.375 billion was directed to 132 kilometres.
For fiscal 2019, Trump demanded US$5.7 billion in wall funds, but Congress appropriated only US$1.375 billion for border fencing projects.
Following the rejection of his wall funding demand, Trump declared the border was a national emergency – a move opposed by Democrats and some Republicans – and redirected US$601 million in Treasury Department forfeiture funds, US$2.5 billion in Defense Department drug interdiction funds and US$3.6 billion from a military construction budget, for total spending of US$8.1 billion for the wall.
Trump’s US$8.6 billion in proposed wall funding for fiscal 2020 would include US$5 billion from the Department of Homeland Security budget and US$3.6 billion from the Pentagon’s military construction budget.
The Department of Homeland Security is one of a few priority areas to get a boost in Trump’s budget plan, which seeks to slash funding to many non-defence programmes.
Trump will propose an overall five per cent increase to the Department of Homeland Security budget over fiscal 2019 appropriations, including US$3.3 billion, or 22 per cent more, for Customs and Border Protection, and US$1.2 billion more for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a 16 per cent hike, officials said.
The budget proposal includes a plan to hire more than 2,800 law enforcement and support personnel for the agencies, and 100 immigration judge teams, officials said.
Trump faces both political and court battles to free up the money he wants for the current fiscal year. Many lawmakers accused Trump of overstepping his constitutional powers by declaring an emergency to free up the funds.
The House has already voted to revoke the emergency, and the Senate is likely to do the same this week. Trump is expected to veto the resolution.
A coalition of state governments led by California has sued Trump to block the emergency move, though legal experts have said the lawsuits face a difficult road. — NNN-AGENCIES
