Trump to seek another 8.6 billion U.S. dollars for border wall

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U.S. President Donald Trump will seek 8.6 billion U.S. dollars in fresh funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2020 budget request, likely triggering another fight with Congress, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday.

The request, which is to be unveiled Monday, would far exceed the 5.7 billion U.S. dollars Trump demanded last year, which led to an impasse that resulted in a 35-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government, the longest ever.

Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer decried the move, warning Trump that another legislative defeat would await him.

Kudlow, interviewed on "Fox News Sunday," conceded that the new request would likely mean a renewed fight in Congress over wall funding.

In this file photo taken on January 28, 2019, Director of the U.S. National Economic Council Larry Kudlow speaks during a briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. /VCG Photo

"I suppose there will be," he said.

But he said Trump "is going to stay with his wall. He is going to stay with his border security. I think it's essential."

'Expensive and ineffective'

In a joint statement, Pelosi and Schumer charged that 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."

A man walks near the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, December 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

"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," they said.

The Washington Post reported that the president's request for wall funding will come in the form of 5 billion U.S. dollars from the Department of Homeland Security and another 3.6 billion U.S. dollars from the Pentagon.

That will be on top of the 6.7 billion U.S. dollars in wall funding that Trump has ordered redirected from other government programs under a national emergency he declared last month.

He declared the emergency after the Congress approved only 1.375 billion U.S. dollars for construction of 55 miles (90 kilometers) of barriers along the border in Texas.

On a separate issue, Kudlow expressed optimism that U.S. economic growth will surpass three percent "in 2019 and beyond," adding that the 2020 budget anticipates a five percent reduction in government spending.

Source(s): AFP