WASHINGTON — The House is poised to set aside $1.6 billion to start construction of the border wall promised by President Donald Trump — a costly yet modest down payment on a massive project that would cost far more if ever finished.

Lawmakers made no effort to extract payment from Mexico, as the president's oft-stated campaign vow fades into memory.

House GOP leaders tucked the wall funding into a defense spending bill that goes to a floor vote on Wednesday. It tracks Trump's budget request for 2018.

The funds would cover just 60 miles of new barrier, all in Texas, plus 14 miles of backup fencing in California.

Democrats who view the barrier as a boondoggle decried the tactic, along with the plan itself.

Total cost: up to $49 billion

At those rates, it would cost $35 billion to $49 billion to construct new barriers along the full length of the Southwest border, though Trump and top aides have backed away from the idea, saying that natural barriers such as the deep Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend, and impassable mountains elsewhere along the frontier, make it unnecessary to build a barrier that runs unbroken from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

"The wall will not help one bit. ... We're going to use technology from 2,500 years ago to solve modern problems," said Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., mocking the project as a latter-day Great Wall of China. "The wall in China today is what, a tourist attraction. ... That's all it is, a tourist attraction."

House Speaker Paul Ryan touted the measure, saying it reflected a consensus on the need to bolster border security and construct the "physical barrier that we need on the border."

"We're going to take action on key elements of the president's strategy to secure our borders, including the resources for a physical barrier," said Ryan, noting that he toured the border near McAllen this year. "When you go down there and meet with the Border Patrol themselves and you see the fact that the cartels are staging just over the river, there is a need for a physical barrier in many parts of this border."

What it pays for

The House bill includes $1.7 billion for border security infrastructure and equipment. That's a $1.2 billion jump from spending in the current fiscal year. Nearly all of that — $1.57 billion — will go to the border wall. A report from the House Appropriations Committee specifies where the funds will go; the plan tracks the administration's request.

* $784 million for 32 miles of new border fencing in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. That's $24.5 million per mile.

* $498 million for 28 miles of new levee wall in the Valley.

* $251 million for 14 miles of secondary fencing in San Diego.

The cost of the fencing averages out to $24.5 million per mile in Texas and about $18 million per mile in San Diego. The levee wall also averages nearly $18 million per mile.

Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, predicted that history will judge the U.S.-Mexico border wall as an artifact as obsolete as the Berlin Wall.

"If it was up to me, I would bulldoze the existing wall," he said. "Mexico is an ally, not an enemy."

For the current year, Congress had already set aside funds to replace 40 miles of primary fencing along the border: $175 million for 24 miles of fencing in El Paso, and in California, another $15 million for 2 miles of fencing in El Centro and $102 million for 14 miles of fencing in San Diego.

Trump pushing for wall

Trump has embraced the House bill. In a statement of administration policy issued on Monday, the White House lauded the bill for putting a priority on "critical investments in the areas of the border with the highest current risk and the greatest current operational need."

"The administration strongly supports the committee's commitment to include the president's border wall proposal, which is a critical element of the president's strategy to secure the borders," the White House said, adding that "physical barriers are vital for border security because they deter, prevent, and deny potential illegal border crossings, for illegal alien movement generally and for human smuggling and drug smuggling specifically."

"A wall is only a piece of the puzzle," said Sen. John Cornyn.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Tuesday that he prefers a more comprehensive approach to border security and immigration policy. Like most border state lawmakers in both parties, he has criticized the focus on a physical barrier along the border as inadequate or misguided.

"A wall is only a piece of the puzzle," he said.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., accused Republicans of "legislative gimmickry" by hiding the wall funds in the defense bill, asserting that they are "clearly embarrassed that they are stroking Trump's ego by funding a dumb wall that we don't need and can't afford."

And Gutiérrez, the Illinois Democrat, called the funding an effort mainly to appease GOP voters.

"What do you need a wall for? You need a wall in order to disparage another country. And in order to give a false sense of security to the American people," he said. "They can't get health care passed [so] they're going to give you a wall."