President Donald Trump is expected to ask $8.6 billion from Congress for the 2020 budget. The president wants to use this money to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A report from Reuters noted that, when the White House submits the 2020 congressional budget on Monday, the president will ask the Congress to grant him this money. The amount is six times more than what Congress has offered for border security in the last two fiscal years.
The wall along the southern border was one of the most important campaign promises from Trump. This is seen as a last-ditch effort to push through the funding needed to make it a reality. The White House proposal is planning to pull out at least $5 billion from Homeland Security and an additional $3.6 billion from the military construction budget to fund the wall. The Trump administration is also expected to request for 100 extra immigration judges and 2,800 additional law enforcement personnel.
It’s very unlikely though that the Democrat-controlled House will grant the President his request. However, some analysts feel that this could be a good political move for Trump ahead of the 2020 race. Congress will have until October 1st to approve the 2020 budget or risk a shutdown. President Trump was largely blamed for the last shutdown that became the longest in US history. At the time, Trump was looking for $5 billion in funding but the House only granted a very small percentage of this. Eventually, he was also forced to reopen the government without the wall funding. This was largely seen as a big political loss for him.
The president then declared a National Emergency shortly after in an effort to bypass the authority of Congress in financial appropriations. The move was highly criticized by Democrats and some GOP lawmakers. The president wants to use the emergency declaration to secure at least $8 billion in funding. But the move doesn’t seem like it will go far. The House, controlled by Democrats, already voted to cancel it. There are also reports indicating that Congress will also vote to cancel the declaration despite the GOP majority.
The president can still veto any decision taken by Congress. The White House has made it clear that it will not accept any resolution from the Capitol to end the declaration. Trump has also been sued by a number of individual states in court for the declaration. However, he is hell-bent on fulfilling this campaign promise. Building a wall on the southern border is something that his supporters want. Failure to do so regardless of the circumstances could be a big blow for his 2020 chances.
President Trump is expected to go up against a number of Democrats who have expressed their interest for the presidency. It’s very unlikely that there will be GOP challengers in the primaries. If Congress fails to agree on a possible funding deal for the wall, there could be another shutdown on the cards in no time.
