It’ll be something in the range of $12 billion to $15 billion, according to Sen. Mitch McConnell. There’s been a lot of talk about whether Trump can really get Mexico to pay for it and, if not, whether it shows that Republicans aren’t that serious about the budget.

There’s a tendency among journalists to assume that any number ending in “illion” is really huge. That’s true for a personal bank account, but not for a national government. So here are a few ways of putting $15 billion in perspective:

It’s $47 for each person currently living in the U.S.

It’s 0.4 percent of projected federal spending for 2017.

It’s 2.7 percent of the projected deficit this year.

It’s 0.1 percent of the total federal debt.

Yes, we should pay for the wall instead of just tacking it on to the deficit, but it really should not be hard to come up with the funds if needed, especially considering it will be a multiple-year project.

Robert VerBruggen is managing editor of The American Conservative.

Follow @RAVerBruggen