Trump to seek from Congress $8.6 bn for wall

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will seek from the US Congress $8.6 billion more for a border wall in budget proposals to be announced on Monday, setting up another round of fight that had recently caused the longest federal government shutdown.

The proposals were described in some reports as “dead on arrival” as Democrats, who now control the House of Representatives, will most certainly reject it, given their opposition to the wall along the Mexico border and other cuts that the Trump administration is expected to seek in welfare programmes.

The budget is also expected to propose an increase of $35 bn in defence spending, taking it up to $750 bn.

Senior Trump aide Larry Kudlow confirmed the president’s wall funding proposal on a Sunday morning TV show, acknowledging it will trigger a new fight. Trump had sought $5.6 bn in his 2019 budget, but had to settle for $1.3 bn. He has sought to raise an additional $6.5 bn by shifting funds from other approved appropriations by declaring a national emergency, which has been challenged in courts and is set to be rejected by Congress.

He will veto the congressional rejection and save his emergency declaration, but it is not clear yet if he can begin moving funds pending the settlement of legal challenges. Trump’s campaign promise of a wall has turned into a fight that is likely to continue, given the pressure he is under from his supporters, some of whom have turned against him for failing to begin work on it and giving in to Democrats in the last shutdown.

One of them is Ann Coulter, an influential conservative commentator, who has called the president an “idiot” for surrendering to Democrats. Trump lashed out against her on Saturday, calling her a “Wacky Nut Job”.

Earlier, he had unfollowed her on Twitter to register his anger.

Democrats are in no mood to relent either. They called the president’s proposal “immoral” and had at one stage said they would not give Trump even $1 for it. The $1.3 bn they approved earlier is strictly to be spent for other measures to boost security at the border, not for the wall.

In the budget, Trump will propose about 5% reduction in domestic spending across the board. The budget document also includes economic projections for the next decade, with the administration forecasting continued expansion.

It will project the economy growing at an average of 3% annually over the net decade, according to officials, including 3.2% growth for 2019. The White House predicts the economy will grow 3.1% in 2020, 3% in 2021, and 2.8% in 2026.