House GOP determined to push wall funding

CONGRESS

WASHINGTON — House Republican allies of President Donald Trump are intent on giving him a long-sought victory in Congress by making a down payment on his longpromised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

They just don’t want to risk an up-or-down vote on the idea that might risk an embarrassing loss on the House floor. The $1.6 billion cost will be covered by taxpayers, not Mexico, in contrast to what Trump promised during the campaign.

But the August congressional recess is looming, and GOP leaders are making a House win on the wall a top priority.

“This week, 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,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday. “You see the fact that the (drug) cartels are staging just over the river, there is a need for a physical barrier in many parts of this border.”

Many Republicans from border states, swingdistrict lawmakers and Republicans representing sizable Hispanic populations oppose the wall. The issue polls poorly with the public, too.

GOP leaders have sprung a plan to lump the wall funding in with a massive $788 billion spending bill that includes money for the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides political cover for Republicans. The measure, expected to pass Friday, combines four appropriations bills into one; the wall money would be added in a procedural vote Thursday.

In his May budget, Trump requested $1.6 billion to construct three segments of wall totaling 74 miles, including 14 miles of secondary fencing in San Diego and 60 miles of fencing and levee wall in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. That averages out to $21 million per mile.

A major battle over the U.S.-Mexico wall looms in the Senate.