“I wish the RINO wing of the party had provided more support early on.”
Actually, when the Republicans had both House and Senate, (then) Speaker Ryan added a wedge into the 10 year baseline budget for barrier building - about $1.4 billion per year, out to FY 2027.
That is the source of all of the appropriated money that has come from Congress for the Trump Wall Program so far, except for $400 million in the first year (2017). It is kind of on auto-pilot in the baseline budget.
Although that approach would have slow-rolled President Trump from definitively fixing the border during his term, it has the practical result of strongly funding a few years worth of “whack-a-mole” reactive patching of the barrier, after President Trump’s lump sum big push, under his Emergency Declaration.
That $1.4 billion/year (gradually inflating to $1.6B), can fund 60-70 miles of top of the line Wall System per year. That is a very credible program, especially once the cities and easiest terrain are already strongly walled off.
275 miles completed as of today, August 10. 300 easy by Labor Day unless Demwits throw up another legal hurdle.