Tag: Border Wall

By Halting Border Wall Construction Biden Would Save $2.6 Billion

Buck Banks

$2.6 billion

“The U.S. government would save about $2.6 billion if President-elect Joe Biden halts construction on the border wall project on his first day in office,” the Washington Post reports. “Biden told reporters this summer he would not build ‘another foot’ of the border barriers that became a symbol of the Trump presidency and one of the most expensive federal infrastructure projects in U.S. history. But the financial implications of a decision to stop work — including the costs to the government it will potentially incur — have not been publicly disclosed.”

Trump Plans to Divert $7.2 Billion for Border Fence

Buck Banks

$7.2 billion

“President Trump is preparing to divert an additional $7.2 billion in Pentagon funding for border wall construction this year, five times what Congress authorized him to spend on the project in the 2020 budget,” the Washington Post reports. “The Pentagon funds would be extracted, for the second year in a row, from military construction projects and counternarcotics funding. According to the plans, the funding would give the government enough money to complete approximately 885 miles of new fencing by Spring 2022, far more than the 509 miles the administration has slated for the U.S. border with Mexico.”

Flashback Quote: Trump on Redirecting Funds Away from Military

Buck Banks

“We have to stop. No. The military is going to be stronger and bigger and more modernized than ever before. The military is so important. That’s number one, two and three on my list. We have to, we need security in this country, especially now with what’s going on.”

— Donald Trump, in a 2016 Newsday interview, when asked if he would redirect military funds to build infrastructure.