The White House on Friday demanded that lawmakers approve $18 billion (Rs 1.14 lakh crore) to spend over the next 10 years to build over 1,100 km of the proposed wall along the United States’ border with Mexico.
This is the first time the Donald Trump administration has laid out a detailed financial blueprint for the plan, The Washington Post reported.
Cost estimates the government sent to senators showed a plan to build 508 km of new fencing and reinforce 655 km of fencing, where barriers are already in place, by 2027.
Democratic Party lawmakers have protested the demand. The government faces the risk of a shutdown if the lawmakers do not reach a deal during the budget negotiations.
“President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall,” Democratic Senator Richard Durbin was quoted as saying. “With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction.”
The border wall to check immigration from Mexico was a key election promise that Trump had made during his presidential campaign in 2016. However, he had claimed that Mexico, not US taxpayers, would pay for the wall.
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