Whether Or Not Trump Accepts Dem Budget Deal, Wall Construction Will Almost Certainly Move Forward

screengrab from https://twitter.com/WendyFry_/status/1066791682899959808

Despite media reports that Trump, though unhappy, will likely sign the budget deal (he has said he wants his administration to go over it carefully), no one really knows what the details are or what will happen by Friday.

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One thing we do know, however, is that Trump has every intention of moving forward with construction plans to build the wall on the southern border.

U.S. President Donald Trump insists the wall on the border with Mexico will be built even if Congress does not approve the funds he wants for it. U.S. congressional leaders said Tuesday they have agreed on the foundation for a federal budget deal and are urging the president to sign it. Trump said he is not happy with the deal, but will decide whether to sign it once he learn all the details.

The budget deal, if signed by the end of the week, will avert another government shutdown and chances are Republicans and the administration would be happy to have that political albatross removed from their necks. However, Democrats introduced 11th hour demands that dealt with capping detention rates at the border (potentially releasing known criminals into the general population), among other things.

If the president finds himself swayed enough by other parts of the budget deal enough to sign it, even if it doesn’t provide all the funding he originally requested — and reports are, it doesn’t — the administration has said they will use the power of the executive to find additional funding for the wall.

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Trump is likely to grudgingly sign the legislation and then immediately use his executive authority to fund additional border measures, said a person who talked to the president Tuesday and asked not to be identified to discuss private conversations.

The president’s campaign for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is entering a new phase after his quest to get $5.7 billion in the agreement to keep the government operating fell far short. A tentative accord reached Monday night provides just $1.375 billion for 55 new miles of fencing in Texas. It’s not clear how Trump arrived at the $23 billion figure.

Trump’s Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said additional funding could come from existing infrastructure projects and disaster relief funds, and may also include unspent federal agency funds. Using these funds would allow the White House to avoid the controversial step of declaring the situation at the southern border a national emergency.

The emerging consensus among acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top budget officials is to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico. The plan willalso tap unspent Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.

“There are certain sums of money that are available to the president, to any president,” Mulvaney said on “Meet the Press”Sunday. “So you comb through the law at the president’s request … And there’s pots of money where presidents, all presidents, have access to without a national emergency.”

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Sen. Ted Cruz may have also contributed to potential funding sources by introducing a bill that would make apprehended funds from the recently convicted El Chapo and other Mexican drug lords able to be used as part of the funding for a border wall.

Details of the budget deal are set to be released by Wednesday evening.

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