Senate Republicans are backing President Trump’s request for $5 billion in funding for his proposed border barriers. On Tuesday, Trump’s Republican allies in the Senate unveiled a $71 billion draft funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that includes the full $5 billion in wall funding Trump requested.
Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) estimated that the spending bill would raise total funding for Trump’s wall to nearly $15 billion, according to The Hill. That includes the $6.1 billion Trump has redirected from Pentagon accounts toward barrier construction.
What’s next: “The money faces an uphill slog,” writes Andrew Taylor of the Associated Press. “Tuesday’s subcommittee vote was routine but a heated debate awaits on Thursday when the legislation is voted on in the full Appropriations Committee, where Democrats promise votes to cut the wall funding back.”
Democrats remain staunchly opposed to providing money for barrier construction, and the appropriations process remains mired in uncertainty and partisan disagreements. The House version of the homeland security spending bill includes no wall funding, and the Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a Democratic measure to nix Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, which the administration has used to shift $3.6 billion in Pentagon funding toward barrier construction. Congress passed such a bill earlier this year, but Trump vetoed it.