President Trump called the money included in the $1.3 trillion spending bill for the border wall he signed into law Friday a “down payment” and promised more would be coming.
Trump’s central campaign pledge was building a wall along the border with Mexico — and promising Mexico would pay for it. While Trump still maintains he will find a way for Mexico to provide funding for the project, American taxpayers are fronting the bill.
In the spending bill passed by Congress and signed by Trump last week, that down payment came to the tune of $1.6 billion.
“Much can be done with the $1.6 Billion given to building and fixing the border wall. It is just a down payment. Work will start immediately. The rest of the money will come – and remember DACA, the Democrats abandoned you (but we will not)!” Trump tweeted.
Trump threatened to veto the legislation because it did not include enough money for his wall and did not help people who receive protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The people covered by the program, about 800,000 of them, are illegal immigrants who were taken to this country by their parents as children.
The White House was reportedly offered full funding for the wall in exchange for a path to citizenship for DACA recepients, but turned it down. Another deal — three years of wall funding for three years of DACA — was also reportedly shot down by the White House.
Trump has maintained it’s Democrats who are abandoning DACA recepients and are unwilling to make a deal.
Trump also touted the amount of funding for the military that he has ushered through Congress in recent months.
“Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich,” Trump tweeted. “Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!”
