Trump tweets: 鈥楳exico will pay us back for wall鈥
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US President-elect Donald Trump tweeted yesterday that Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall and that any US money spent will be for the “sake of speed.”
His tweet came as top aides consider a plan to ask Congress to ensure money is available in US coffers for the wall, but to rely on existing law that already authorizes fencing and other technology along the southern border.
The potential approach was confirmed on Thursday by two congressional officials and a senior transition official; all of whom requested anonymity.
In his tweet early yesterday, Trump said: “The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!”
Mexico’s president and other senior officials have repeatedly insisted that Mexico won’t pay for a wall.
During his campaign, Trump told voters that if he was elected he would build a wall along the US southern border and make Mexico pay for it.
Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer said putting US money up-front “doesn’t mean he’s broken his promise.”
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Spicer said: “I think he’s going to continue to talk to them (the Mexican government) about that.”
The approach could also stave off a legislative fight that Trump might lose if he tried to get Congress to pass a measure authorizing the kind of border wall he promised during the campaign.
It’s not clear how much could be done along the 3,220-kilometer border without additional actions by Congress. Lawmakers passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006, but most of those 1,126 kilometers have already been built. Some areas are in better shape than others, though, and long stretches are made up of fencing that stops vehicles but not pedestrians.
But whatever steps might be taken without Congress approval would be likely to fall short of the extravagant new wall on the border that Trump repeatedly said Mexico would pay for during his campaign for the White House. And despite Congress involvement in approving any spending, such an approach might also open Trump to charges of circumventing the House and the Senate to take unilateral actions, something he repeatedly criticized President Barack Obama for doing.
A spending bill to include money for border construction could also provoke a legislative showdown given potential opposition from Senate Democrats.
Trump’s vow to build an impenetrable, concrete wall along the southern border was his signature campaign proposal.
“Build the wall!” supporters would chant at his rallies. “Who’s going to pay for it?” Trump would ask them. “Mexico!” Trump often promised the wall would be built of hardened concrete, rebar and steel as tall as his venues’ ceilings, and would feature a “big, beautiful door” to allow legal immigrants to enter.
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