http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/trump-wall-mexico.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump
said in an interview Friday morning that financing a border wall with
taxpayer money would allow the work to begin more quickly. But he
insisted that Mexico would ultimately reimburse the United States for its construction.
“We’re
going to get reimbursed,” Mr. Trump said during a brief telephone
interview. “But I don’t want to wait that long. But you start, and then
you get reimbursed.”
The
president-elect made the comments after Republicans on Capitol Hill
began discussing ways to include money for construction of the border
wall in spending bills that need to be passed this spring. That caused
some speculation that Mr. Trump was retreating on his oft-repeated
promise to make Mexico pay for the wall.
In
the interview, the president-elect insisted that Mexico would
ultimately reimburse the United States. He said that payment would most
likely emerge from his efforts to renegotiate the North American Free
Trade Agreement with the Mexican government.
“It’s
going to be part of everything,” Mr. Trump said of the cost of building
the wall. “We are going to be making a much better deal. It’s a deal
that never should have been signed.”
But
he said that the trade negotiations would take time, and that he
supported the idea of using taxpayer money to begin construction of the
border wall “in order to speed up the process.”
Republican
lawmakers have already begun discussions on Capitol Hill about
including funding for the border wall in spending bills this spring.
That would provide money to begin construction on a barrier that was
authorized, but never completed, in legislation passed in 2006.
Congressional
Republicans, who have balked at increases in domestic spending during
the Obama administration, could find it difficult to rally behind a
proposal that could require billions of taxpayer dollars. The Government
Accountability Office has estimated it could cost $6.5 million per mile
for a single-layer fence, with an additional $4.2 million for roads and
more fencing, according to congressional officials. Those estimates do
not include maintenance of the fence along the nearly 2,000-mile border
with Mexico.
Attaching
such a charged issue to the annual, mandatory government funding
measures could instigate a risky political fight. Those who want to
block money for the wall by holding up the bills could find themselves
accused of shutting down the government.
“The
chairman and the committee have no interest in threatening a shutdown,”
said Jennifer Hing, spokeswoman for the House Appropriations Committee,
referring to Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, Republican of New
Jersey and the committee’s new chairman.
Ms.
Hing said neither Mr. Trump’s transition team nor Republican leaders
had asked for funding to build a wall on the Mexican border.
“If and when a proposal is received, we will take a careful look at it,” she said in an email Friday.
At
an August rally in Phoenix, hours after meeting with President Enrique
Peña Nieto of Mexico, Mr. Trump vowed that America’s southern neighbor
would bear the financial burden of securing the border.
“Mexico
will pay for the wall, believe me — 100 percent — they don’t know it
yet, but they will pay for the wall,” Mr. Trump said last summer.
“They’re great people, and great leaders, but they will pay for the
wall.”
In
a Twitter post on Friday, Mr. Trump mocked news reports about the
possible taxpayer funding of the border barrier, suggesting that Mexico
would be forced to reimburse the American government for any costs
incurred in building the wall.
“The
dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the
Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!” he wrote early Friday.
Representative
Chris Collins, Republican of New York and one of Mr. Trump’s liaisons
on Capitol Hill, said Friday morning that members of his party in
Congress were eager to get moving on construction of a border wall, even
if that meant using taxpayer money to finance it.
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In
an appearance on the CNN program “New Day,” Mr. Collins said it should
come as no surprise to anyone that the United States government would
have to pay for building the wall. “Of course, we have to pay the
bills,” he said. “We’re building the wall.”
But he also expressed confidence that Mr. Trump would be able to negotiate reimbursement from the Mexican government over time.
Kellyanne
Conway, who will serve as a counselor to Mr. Trump in the White House,
said the new president would keep the promises he made on the campaign
trail.
“The president-elect has said many times that he will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it,” she said.
As
a candidate, Mr. Trump’s promise to build a wall to keep out immigrants
from Mexico was one of his most powerful speaking points. He often used
it at rallies to whip up his supporters and bolster his argument that
illegal immigration was damaging the United States.
His
repeated pledge to make Mexico pay was in part a way to rebut one of
the central criticisms of a wall — that the cost to build a barrier
along the long southern border could run into the many billions of
dollars.
Critics
have also said the wall would be ineffective in stopping people
determined to enter the United States illegally. And others said it
represented a symbolic affront to the idea that America was a welcoming
country that embraces immigration.
Democrats slammed the reports that Mr. Trump would ask Congress to fund a border wall.
“If
President Trump asks Congress to approve taxpayer dollars to build a
wall, which he has always said would not be paid for by U.S. taxpayers,
we will carefully review the request to determine if these taxpayer
dollars would be better spent on building hospitals to care for our
veterans, roads and bridges to help taxpayers get to work, and for
N.I.H. to find cures for cancer,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont,
the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a
statement.
Representative
Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said she thought
even Republicans might balk at spending what she said could be $14
billion on a wall.
“I think that’s a heavy sell,” she said, “I think that’s a tough sell for them.”
Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.
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