President Donald Trump will ask Congress for approximately $25 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, he told reporters late Wednesday.
“We have $25 billion for a wall, we have $5 billion for other security measures,” Trump said of a legislative framework the White House will release for the Senate’s consideration Monday. “If you build a wall for $20 or $22 billion, and you’re saving $100 billion, that wall….that wall is a great return on investment.”
“I’m gonna build it way under budget,” the president vowed.
Trump’s proposal, however, is likely to meet some significant opposition from democratic lawmakers. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer vowed not to give into Trump’s demands for wall funding telling MSNBC Tuesday, “God forbid, but the pictures of people being deported will rally the nation, and these more mainstream Republicans — admittedly, not a majority of the Republican Party. But enough, when they add them to Democrats, could pass the bill.”
The president laughed off Schumer’s statement, telling reporters, “Schumer–well, I can tell you this: if you don’t have a wall, you don’t have DACA.”