President Trump insisted Sunday he will keep his campaign vow to build a southern border wall and force Mexico to pay for it, even though he needs U.S. taxpayers to front the money.
Mr. Trump is seeking a down payment on his signature barrier in a stopgap spending bill that must pass this week to keep government agencies funded beyond Friday.
Democrats say they will reject any bill that includes funding for a wall or other “poison pills,” raising the threat of a government shutdown.
“Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall. The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members,” Mr. Trump said in a series of Twitter messages on Sunday, referring to a notoriously violent gang with roots in Central America.
Democratic leaders say Mr. Trump promised voters that Mexico would pay for the wall, period.
“The wall, in my view, is immoral, expensive, unwise — and when the president says, ’Well I promised a wall during my campaign,’ I don’t think he said, ’I would pass billions of dollars of costs of the wall onto the taxpayer,’” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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