Report: Trump to ask Congress for $8.6 billion to fund border wall


When President Trump sends his annual budget proposal to Congress on Monday, it will include an $8.6 billion request for border wall funds, aides told The New York Times Sunday.
In December, Congress offered $1.375 billion to build barriers along the border, but Trump rebuffed the deal; when Trump did not receive the $5.7 billion he wanted, the government was shutdown for a record 35 days. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement on Sunday that Congress "refused to fund his wall, and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson."
Administration officials said Trump will also ask for $3.6 billion to replace money he intends to take from military construction funds in order to work on wall construction. The budget projects that America's economic growth will rise to 3.2 percent this year, almost a full percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve's forecast of 2.3 percent, the Times reports.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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