Posted on 02/10/2017 10:28:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Twelve billion here, fifteen billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Put them together, though, and it comes close to the actual projected cost of the border wall. Reuters reports that the Department of Homeland Security’s proposal runs far ahead of the funds that Republicans in Congress planned to allocate:
President Donald Trump’s “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The report’s estimated price-tag is much higher than a $12-billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The report is expected to be presented to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly in coming days, although the administration will not necessarily take actions it recommends.
The plan lays out what it would take to seal the border in three phases of construction of fences and walls covering just over 1,250 miles (2,000 km) by the end of 2020.
It’s not the only variance from first projections. The new DHS study projects that the wall will be completed by late 2020, assuming Congress begins allocating the funds by May, presumably in the upcoming omnibus bill. That’s longer than the two-year estimate Kelly gave Congress just a week ago, which will certainly raise questions about his preparation for that testimony.
It also makes the issue of funding a little more fraught. Initially, Ryan indicated that the House would pursue the funding in the fall, as part of the FY2018 budget process. A two-year completion schedule at that point would have meant that the wall could be completed by late 2019, enough ahead of the presidential primaries to claim victory on a long-made promise from Republicans. A three-year-plus schedule suggests that the wall may not be complete until midway through an election year — and that gives Democrats plenty of reason to start blocking the funding, starting in two months during the omnibus FY2017 negotiations.
The time difference matters a lot more than the cash difference, though the latter is not exactly a few coins in the cushion. A nine-billion-dollar miss might seem like the lunch budget for the federal government, but it would actually be about 0.1% of all discretionary spending projected for FY2017 (although the appropriation will probably stretch out over the three-year period, too). At DHS, it’s more significant; the proposed FY2017 appropriation was $48 billion, so a $9 billion miss is rather big. Republicans might feel pressure from their conservative ranks to find the money by cutting other spending, and that will no doubt fuel opposition from Democrats.
It’s still probably better to have this fight earlier rather than later. If Ryan and McConnell wait until fall, the momentum for the project could stall, and Trump’s electoral mandate might have dissipated. Kelly better deliver it on time, and on budget, if Republicans want to reap political benefit from it. Besides, if they wait any longer, the bill’s just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
I would love to see two huge machines, one working west, the other heading east. These machines would be essentially mobile 3d concrete machines with tracks as large or larger than the Saturn V transporter.
Few complained when Obama and RINO congress spent over $9 trillion over the last eight years. $21 billion is a bargain.
Better ROI than the Big Dig, which cost more.
Good idea! Start where there is high traffic and go from there.
In the meantime, rotate ALL of the state’s national guard units along the border to do training and to just be there.
MFO
Good idea! Start where there is high traffic and go from there.
In the meantime, rotate ALL of the state’s national guard units along the border to do training and to just be there.
MFO
PBS and NPR get $400+ million federal dollars a year.
Don’t flame, please, just thinking out loud...
How about an offer of a job to each illegal alien who volunteers to help build the wall. Designate it “community service” or offer a nominal pay for sustenance, and require a minimum time spent in the work with satisfactory work reviews. Having completed all requirements, offer a green card. Failure to comply means deportation.
The idea is that they pay a price (X hours of community service) for illegal entry, at least equivalent to the price paid by people seeking to enter legally.
People are missing a larger point: By the time Trump is finished revamping our broken immigration system, we won’t NEED the thing to be finished.....heh...(still want it tho’)....
Who Cares what the wall Cost?
Take the money from the Congressional Benefits and Retirement package(s), or better yet ..... The Ex President
retirement packages, and just get started.
Trust me here, once the Congress and Elected officials find out their Benefit package is funding part of the wall, — there will be ample funding available.
Just BUILD IT! Get this one DONE!
GO TRUMP GO!
Don’t tell me Problems..... Tell me solutions!
You took the words out of mouth! That is the first thing I thought when I read the headline!
$21B??? SH!T, triple that MF’er up for EXTRA security and I’m STILL happy of the pay-out.
The reduction in annual costs to the TAXPAYERS will be worth EVERY penny.
‘Bout time we had a President whom cared about the People. Guess, for some, it’s an eye opener what can happen when you don’t elect lawyers\politicians
I have to remind myself, however, that I don’t know how Trump could have or maybe even can now, can be forthright about this and still have popular support for building the wall. Either that or he miscalculated and would have enough support for the wall even if he laid out the gambit with Mexico and the American consumer.
I guess if he laid it all out on the table now before America, it’d look bad because he hadn’t done that during the campaign. Nothing and no one is perfect. In Trump we’ve got the best IMO.
“If”?
You can write the check one time, because gawd knows how long a tariff will go on, and on, and on.....
Let’s discuss Avocados. If sales of avocado dropped you would have a lot of pissed off Mexicans.
Gypsum? Gets worse.
Here is real kicker.
The U.S. accounts for some $300 billion of Mexico’s $1.2 Trillion GDP.
If we only tariff $100 Billion of those goods, that’s nearly 8% of their economy.
Let’s pretend Trump gets 8 years. That is likely a tariff increase for 6 years and No Bueno para negocios pero muy mal los Mexicanos.
That’s 6 years of tariffs on $100 billion at 20% or $120 billion.
The reality is there will be a minimum 30% reduction of imports, so we only get $90 billion but, they still get pissed off citizens and many who will be unemployed.
Wall is paid for, Border Patrol gets new toys and Christmas bonus.
Bad for them and with their current inflation, as well, price increases for intra-country fuel, they are already seeing pockets of protests
They just raised their interests rates, which no one in the world is doing, so that is making the cost of doing business even more expensive.
One payment costs less than the other...
I’m in my mid 50’s.
When I was 8 I visited my cousin in Lindsay, CA (Olives, etc). They were prosperous.
The neighbor down the street was hispanic and wealthy - I met the son and he was started ragging about America and the Viet Nam war, not in a supportive way. I gave him a lecture that made my cousin turn speechless.
From that day I have wanted a wall to be built to keep hateful, American hating people out of MY!!!! country.
Peace to you this day my FRiend.
I bet it comes in under budget and ahead of time.
Someone remind me again how much Obama sent to the Mullahs of Iran just last year?
How much did Hillary “lose” at the State Department?
Just GET IT DONE!
“Use non-union labor.”
Lots of ways to reduce the labor costs. Offer non-violent convicts a chance to earn reductions in their sentences for volunteering their labor. Or, make it a CCC-type jobs program - earn some money and learn a trade. These are just a couple of suggestions. I’m sure there are a lot more. People who are out of work because they lost their jobs to illegals would probably jump at the chance to put a stop to this epidemic of off-the-books labor by helping build the wall.
“The American consumer pays for it????
Just exactly what does Mexico produce that America can’t live without???????????????
“...one working west, the other heading east.”
Have a BIG celebration when they come together. A length of golden rebar would be appropriate!!
21 billion, 1 month illegals freebies ?
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