Donald Trump on Tuesday promised that we would direct the military to build the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border if Democrats don’t provide funding for it in their next spending bill, ABC News is reporting.
In a series of Tuesday morning tweets, the president once again pushed Democrats, specifically Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, to give him a spending bill that provides funding for the border wall. If that doesn’t happen, he has threatened a government shutdown. And in a new twist, he threatened to have the military do it if he didn’t get the money needed for it.
“If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!”
Ever since he began his campaign, Trump has made the border wall with Mexico his top priority. However, thus far, the Republican-controlled Congress has not given him much of the estimated $20 billion the wall would require. Rather, instead, he’s been given a few billion, which was earmarked for repairs and improvements to existing sections of the border fence.
. @realDonaldTrump threatens to use military to build border wall as majority of Americans say he should compromise https://t.co/k6xDAbb3WK pic.twitter.com/E8ljQSzSRo
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 11, 2018
Even though no work has been done on the wall, other than a few sections of prototypes, Trump continues to insist that his “Great Wall,” as he’s now calling it, is already in the process of being built. That claim has been derided as “Mostly False” by Politifact , owing to the fact that all that’s really happened are repairs to a few sections of the existing wall.
“People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built.”
The stakes are high for the Republican president, as he has until January to push his legislation through a Congress where both houses are controlled by Republicans. Once January comes, the Senate will continue to be held by Republicans, but the House of Representatives will be run by Democrats.
Two Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, have stated that they intend to work with the president on border security, but not to the tune of building the border wall. Rather, as the New York Daily News reports, Schumer and Pelosi are both interested in providing between $1.3 and $1.6 billion for “general border security,” and not Trump’s proposed wall.
Meanwhile, it seems that everyday Americans aren’t as enthusiastic about the border wall as Trump is. According to a new NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll, 57 percent of Americans said Trump should compromise on the wall, while 36 percent believe he should continue to push for it.
