Donald Trump picks a new wall fight
President Donald Trump will seek US$8.6 billion (NZ$12.6b) in his new budget to build the USMexico border wall, two administration officials said yesterday, setting up another showdown with Congress, which has resisted giving him more money for his signature campaign promise.
The request would more than double the US$8.1 billion already potentially available to the president after he declared a national emergency at the border in order to circumvent Congress once lawmakers refused his funding demands. That standoff led to a 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in US history.
The officials confirmed that the request was part of Trump’s spending blueprint for the 2020 budget year that begins on October 1. That document, which sets the stage for negotiations ahead, proposes boosting to defence spending to US$750 billion – and standing up the new Space Force – while reducing nondefence accounts by 5 per cent, with cuts recommended to safety net programmes used by many Americans. The plan sticks to budget caps that both parties have routinely broken in recent years and promises to come into balance in 15 years, relying in part on economic growth that may be uncertain.
The officials were not authorised to publicly discuss budget details before today’s release of the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Trump’s budget ‘‘points a steady glide path’’ toward lower spending and borrowing as a share of the nation’s economy. He also told Fox News Sunday that there was no reason to ‘‘obsess’’ about deficits, and expressed confidence that economic growth would top 3 per cent in 2019 and beyond. Others have predicted lower growth.
Budget proposals are merely a starting point, but leading Democrats immediately rejected the president’s border request.
‘‘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,’’ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York. They said the money ‘‘would be better spent on rebuilding America.’’ –AP