Mr. Trump once again graced the world with a tweet Tuesday morning, “Don’t let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the WALL. It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking etc.”
While he still firmly believes in enhancing the existing border wall between the United States and Mexico; he has begun to realize that including the down payment for the colossal project in this year’s federal budget debates will get him nowhere and will only further strain relationships between himself and other politicians, Republican and Democrat alike.
With this hurdle out of the way the new budget should have an easier time being decided and passed once the current budget expires at the end of the week. Fear over another government shutdown grew as Trump insisted his wall be paid for and Democrats firmly stood their ground saying they will not approve funding for the wall.
This has not deterred Trump’s dreams of a wall that will magically prevent human and drug trafficking though; he instead will be looking towards future budget debates in the hopes that more time will change minds in Washington.
The wall has been on many American minds since the idea was brought up as a focal point for Trump during his presidential campaign. One of the biggest promises he made regarding the wall was that Mexico would pay for it. The Mexican president wasted no time with his response saying that Mexico would never pay for the structure.
Trump still insisted to his potential voters that he would force the Mexican government to provide the funds. However, he eventually changed his tactics. He now wants American to pay for the wall through their taxes. He claims America will be reimbursed by Mexico, but US citizens have to put together the money upfront.
There are speculations as to whether or not Mexico will end up paying for the wall in the end. Many believe that if the costs are pushed on, America’s southern neighbor imports will become more expensive, causing American citizens to pay the costs through purchasing Mexican goods. This is assuming plans for the wall go through.
“Mr. Trump initially estimated during the campaign that the wall would cost $12 billion, but the figure has soared since then. A Department of Homeland Security internal report in February estimated that the wall could cost about $21.6 billion. A new report issued by Senate Democrats last week put the cost far higher, at nearly $70 billion,” wrote Peter Baker and Jennifer Steinhauer in their New York Times article.
Democrats and, surprisingly, Republicans alike are glad that this huge expense has been dropped for now. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), agreed that dropping the topic “would remove the prospect of a needless fight.”
Trump has not completely given up though. He admitted to journalists on Monday that he may accept a budget that put more money towards border security even though it wouldn’t be the total amount needed to start construction on the wall. By the week’s end US citizens will know whether or not the wall will be started this year along with results of other hot topics such as health care.
Taylor is a Junior Mass Communications major. She is Opinion and Editorial Editor for The Voice.