$5 Billion for the Border Wall and Standing Firm
Demand came at end of November after President Trump submitted budget that contained only $1.6 billion for border security, including parts of the wall
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump began insisting on $5 billion for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico at the end of November after submitting a budget that contained $1.6 billion for border security, including parts of the wall. "I am firm," Trump  of his $5 billion demand in November. Twenty-six days into a government shutdown, he is still firm. But what is not clear is why he is holding firm at what he now says is $5.7 billion for a wall to "." "He totally changed his own budget," Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen MSNBC news last week. "They asked for $1.6 billion. And now at the very last minute in December, they came back with this request." Trump first kicked around the $5 billion figure in July when it was buried in a   about budget discussions between the administration and Republicans. "Trump never formally requested $5 billion for the wall, instead communicating the number privately to lawmakers in recent weeks," the  said. A few days later, Trump  to shut down the government. "What the president wants to do is get a bigger down payment so it (the wall) can be built faster," former House Speaker Paul Ryan in a speech at the National Press Club in October. "We intend on having a full-fledged discussion about how to complete this mission of securing our border, and we will have a big fight about it." Locked in a stalemate since Dec. 22, the conflict between lawmakers and the president has shut down parts of the federal government for nearly a month. Newly elected House leader Nancy Pelosi is standing firm on zero dollars for the wall. "The fact is, a wall is an immorality. It's not who we are as a nation," she has said. The Department of Homeland Security has estimated that $5 billion would pay for 375 kilometers (234 miles) of a "new physical barrier" on the southern border with Mexico that stretches more than 3,100 kilometers (just under 2,000 miles). "We know that a border wall system works," a Customs and Border Patrol official told reporters at a briefing Wednesday, his wording suggesting that a wall would not work by itself. The U.S. government oversight agency, the General Accountability Office, reported last year that CBP lacked the data to fully determine the cost-effectiveness of the border wall. "CBP does not have complete information for prioritizing locations to use its resources in the most cost-effective manner," GAO officials in August 2018, and not for the first time. The year before, another report by the agency spelled out similar problems. CBP did not respond to a VOA request Wednesday for an update on the status of that data, which it had pledged would be completed by this month.