President Trump pressured Republican lawmakers in a Tuesday meeting at the White House to complete his request for additional border wall funding in the “next couple months,” even as one GOP senator said concessions would need to be made to make progress on anything related to immigration.
“We’re discussing today the funding of the wall, which we very much need. We started the wall and we’re spending a lot of energy and time,” Trump said at the White House during a discussion with congressional appropriators.
“We’re going to ask for an increase in wall spending so we can finish it quicker,” Trump added. “Next couple of months it will be complete, and they can go ahead and build.”
The president’s comments come as House Republicans prepare for a vote on immigration legislation later this week and Congress approaches a September spending deadline, when a fight over border wall funding is expected to occur.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., offered a glimpse of that battle during Tuesday’s meeting. The Republican senator told Trump that GOP lawmakers are “going to have to make some trade-offs” in spending and immigration negotiations if they want to make progress.
[Also read: Paul Ryan’s immigration bill will fail, Mark Meadows predicts]
