Trump Demands $4.1B for His Wall

President Trump’s newly released budget request asks Congress for $1.5 billion to begin developing a border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico—and that’s just the money needed for the current fiscal year. The White House will ask for an additional $2.6 billion in funding for the wall in the fiscal year 2018 budget request. The initial money, part of a $30 billion supplemental spending request sent to lawmakers this week, is to begin developing design and locations for the project, according to White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. The 2018 budget also requests additional spending related to the wall, including more Border Patrol agents and immigration-enforcement agents. “I think the funding provides for a couple of pilot cases… different kinds of barriers in different kinds of places,” Mulvaney told reporters. “We try and find the most cost-efficient, the safest, and also the most effective border protections.”