Trump’s 2020 Budget Asks Congress for $8.6 Billion for Border Wall
President Trump released his $4.7 trillion 2020 budget proposal to Congress Monday, requesting $8.6 billion for border security.
The plan includes funding for 722 miles of wall at the southern border, an issue that caused a record 35-day partial government shutdown beginning just before Christmas. In that fight, Trump requested $5.7 billion to build the wall, while Democrats refused to approve more than $1.6 billion for non-wall border security. Trump eventually relented, signing a bill with only $1.4 billion for barriers at the border and declaring a national emergency to appropriate billions more for wall construction.
The new proposal would boost defense spending to $750 billion, $34 billion more than was allotted in the 2019 budget, and cut spending on non-defense programs to $567 billion, down $30 billion from the 2019 budget. It would also set aside $200 billion for new infrastructure projects nationwide.
The budget is seen as an important early sign of the Trump’s priorities as he heads into his 2020 reelection campaign, but it is expected to fall flat in the Democrat-controlled House, and to face fierce opposition from Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
In a joint statement, House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer panned the president’s plan as a non-starter. “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, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico,” they wrote. “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.”
