White House wants $8.6B for 300 miles of border fence in 2020 budget
(Worthy News) – Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Tuesday the White House will submit to Congress this week its 2020 budget request for $8.6 billion to build an additional 300 miles of border fence, though it’s not clear how much would be replacement barrier and how much would be new.
“The Southwest Border still lacks a permanent wall and persistent domain awareness in vulnerable areas. The FY 2020 Budget requests $8.6 billion in DHS and DOD funding for the construction of approximately 300 miles of new border wall system,” according to McAleenan’s prepared remarks at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday.
The ask would be, by far, the largest amount of money Congress has given DHS for physical improvements at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the previous three years of appropriations, Congress has given DHS a total of $3 billion. In 2017, lawmakers gave the department $341 million for 40 miles of barrier construction. That number jumped in 2018 and 2019 to $1.375 billion each year. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]