Build That Wall! And Let American Suckers Pay For It!

The plan is an implicit acknowledgment by Republicans and the incoming administration that Mexico will not pay for the border wall — a promise from Trump that was always viewed skeptically. Instead, American tax dollars will. 

The tentative plan would likely be just a piece of a broader, multi-year border security strategy, which Capitol Hill Republicans are still hashing out. They’re already framing the spring cash infusion — which could total hundreds of millions, or perhaps billions, of dollars — as a “down-payment” on Trump’s “build-the-wall” platform. That pledge vaulted the New Yorker from afterthought to front-runner in last year’s crowded GOP presidential primary. 

Multiple Republican sources said the House will also likely pass a border-security package sometime later in the spring or summer. The plan could meld new provisions to older bills passed by the House and the Homeland Security Committee in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
The cost of a border wall is potentially enormous, with estimates ranging from a few billion dollars to as much as $14 billion. And that’s just for constructing the wall or fence; it does not include a range of other expenses, from maintenance to border patrol agents to purchasing private property from Texas landowners. 

Still, House Republicans feel they need to give Trump the tools he needs to carry out his wall promise as quickly as possible. The proposal under discussion could offer a way to produce legislation within his first 100 days in office.