House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer on Sunday hinted that United States President Donald Trump's reported plan to ask for 8.6 billion USD in the 2020 budget to fund the wall was a non-starter.
Recalling Congress' refusal to fund his wall, the Democratic leaders said in a statement, "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," The Hill reported.
"President Trump hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico," the two leaders added.
They further suggested that Trump should put the border wall money towards education and workforce development programs.
According to media reports, Trump is expected to request 8.6 billion USD for the wall along the US-Mexico border.
The funding worth 5 billion USD will reportedly be pulled from the Department of Homeland Security budget and 3.6 billion USD from the military construction budget at the Pentagon. The budget proposal also would include 3.6 million USD in military construction funding to help fund projects affected by the wall.
In December last year, the US government witnessed a partial shutdown which was triggered by the US President after he demanded 5.7 billion USD in wall funding.
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