‘Solar’ border wall now appears dead
President Donald Trump insisted that a solar-paneled border wall wasn’t a joke. That it was his idea. That solar panels would help pay for his “big, beautiful” wall.
But despite Mr. Trump’s oft-repeated promotion of a solar wall, there is nary a solar panel in sight among the eight prototypes that have arisen in San Diego County thismonth.
Instead, the 30-by-30-foot structures — scheduled to be completed this week — feature concrete, steel or a combination of both. Five are solid. Three have slats to see throughto the other side.
Beauty, though, is in the eye of the beholder. One is painted royal blue. Another is stamped with a brick pattern, topped with sloped metal grating. All would evoke a prison feel if replicatedfor miles on end.
Congress has yet to agree to pay to build any piece of Mr. Trump’s wall beyond the $20 million allotted for the prototypes. Private citizens keen on controlling illegal immigration have taken up a collection, so far raising close to $15,000 — nowhere near the $21.6 billion the wall is projected to cost.
“I hate to say this, but it’s a huge waste of money to do the prototypes,” said Steve Vulich, co-founder and vice president of the America First Foundation, a nonprofit whose self-described purpose is to raise money for causes that lack sufficient funding, like the “Great SouthernWall.”
Especially, he said, if there is no solar wall after all.
“At least 70 percent of our audience who emails us wants solar panels,” Mr. Vulich said.
Mr. Trump said over the summer that the wall would pay for itself if it were made of solar panels.
“A solar wall. It makes sense. Let’s see. We are working it out. Solar wall panels,” he said at a rally in Iowain June.
Pressed about it aboard Air Force One in July, Mr. Trump doubled down on the idea.
“Look, there’s no better place for solar than the Mexico border — the southern border,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actuallylook good.”
Mario Villarreal, division chief for the agency’s San Diego field office, said last week: “Solar panels or technology bundles on top of the fence certainly isn’t off the table.”
Tea Party, IRS scrutiny
The Trump administration has agreed to what a lawyer described as a “very substantial” payout to hundreds of Tea Party groups to settle a class-action lawsuit over the extra, often burdensome IRS scrutiny they received when applying for tax-exempt status during the 2012 election.
The settlement would end a chapter in a political scandal that dogged the Obama administration and continues to irk Republicans. Announced Thursday, the settlement still needs a judge’s approval.
CHIP vote planned
Arguments erupted on the House floor Thursday between Republican and Democratic leaders over the prospect of a vote next week on a GOP-only bill to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced the bill would be debated next week. Democrats have pushed to delay the House bill until an agreement is reached on a bipartisan solution to pay for it.
Disaster aid approved
Mr. Trump signed a $36.5 billion emergency aid measure Thursday to refill disaster accounts, provide a cash infusion to Puerto Rico and bail out the federal flood insurance program.