Congress Will Not Fund Donald Trump’s Border Wall

Although today’s Congressional budget agreement, which will be voted on in the next few days, disperses over $1 trillion to various government departments, it allocates only $1.5 billion additional dollars for border security.

Furthermore, they included the caveat that this money cannot be used on a wall—it can only be used to repair existing fencing and barricades, or upgrade monitoring technology.

And of course, there are no tabled cuts to Planned Parenthood’s funding, nor did Donald Trump’s $18 billion in proposed cuts make it through (as of yet).

This has many of Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters up in arms.

Still others are wondering whether his influence in Washington is hamstrung, as even as late as this weekend Trump promised he would build the border wall at a rally:

How Much Would Trump’s Border Wall Cost?

Given the magnitude of wasted spending in Washington, the wall itself would be fairly cheap.

Estimates peg the cost of the wall at anywhere between $12-22 billion, although a study from MIT cited in the Huffington Post argues it may be as high as $40 billion.

Either way, it’s a paltry sum when compared to the cost of illegal immigration in America.

For example, illegal immigrants cost California over $30 billion annually, in terms of government subsidies and remittances.

This is to say nothing of their impact on unemployment, and wage depression.

Funding The Wall

Of course, the budget has yet to be finalized and ratified, so there is still time to earmark additional funding for the wall.

However, absent that, there are workarounds.

For example, Senator Ted Cruz’s proposed El Chapo Act would fund the construction of the border wall using confiscated money from the Mexican drug trade, which has thrived along America’s southern border.

This is still a live option, and perhaps the better one—using drug money to build the wall would both shore up the border, and highlight the enormity of America’s drug, and illegal immigrant, problems with the public at large.