Border Security Funds in Budget Bill 'Down Payment' on Wall - Trump

The money allocated for border security in the funding agreement that the US Congress will vote on later this week includes money to make a down payment on a border wall between the United States and Mexico, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Funding for the wall is expected to be part of Trump's budget request for the fiscal year 2018, which will be unveiled later this month.

"We achieved the single largest increase in border security funding in ten years… with enough money to make a down payment on border wall," Trump stated. "We’re putting up a lot of new walls in certain areas, we’re putting up a tremendous amount of money to fix the existing structures that we have, some of which we can keep into the future."

The 2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act contains $1.5 billion for border security, which Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on Monday would be used for things that will have a material impact on border security besides a brick-and-mortar wall.