White House plan to help pay for border wall is a long shot

[Zorro]

Source: AP

The White House is calling for immediate budget cuts of $18 billion from programs like medical research, infrastructure and community development grants to help pay for the border wall that President Donald Trump repeatedly promised would be financed by Mexico.

The administration would eliminate $1.2 billion in National Institutes of Health research grants, a favorite of both parties. The community development block grant program, also popular, would be halved, amounting to a cut of $1.5 billion, and Trump would strip $500 million from a transportation project known as TIGER grants.

Like Trump's 2018 budget, which was panned by both Democrats and Republicans earlier this month, the proposals have little chance to be enacted.

But they could create bad political optics for the struggling Trump White House, since the administration asked earlier for $3 billion to pay for the Trump's controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall and other immigration enforcement plans. During the campaign, Trump promised Mexico would pay for the wall.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-eyeing-18-billion-list-social-program-102956996--finance.html

---

Wrecking the country. It's the Republican way.

[groundloop]

1. "could create bad political optics" - HAH... 45*s political optics are already totally blind

[SCVDem]

2. Hey Dump!!

Fornicate Thyself!!

[Kittycow]

3. If the wall goes up, I hope Mexico stops buying US corn.

ETA: Mexico said that they can get it from Argentina and Brazil instead.

[wishstar]

4. Once again, delusional Trump's misguided priorities

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/white-house-eyeing-18-billion-list-social-program-46415161

But they could create bad political optics for the struggling Trump White House, since the administration asked earlier for $3 billion to pay for the Trump's controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall and other immigration enforcement plans. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised Mexico would pay for the wall, a claim the country has disputed.

"The administration is asking the American taxpayer to cover the cost of a wall — unneeded, ineffective, absurdly expensive — that Mexico was supposed to pay for, and he is cutting programs vital to the middle class to get that done," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "Build the wall or repair or build a bridge or tunnel or road in your community? What's the choice?"

Other cuts include $434 million to immediately eliminate a program to encourage community service opportunities for senior citizens, eliminating $372 million in remaining funding for heating subsidies for the poor, and cutting $447 million in transit grants.

White House budget office spokesman John Czwartacki said the proposals were not being shared with the media. A Capitol Hill aide described the cuts to The Associated Press, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the budget document

[KewlKat]

5. The wall is as big a scam as statin drugs.

Neither keep us safe or save lives.

[Seasider]

6. Paying for the wall is only one aspect of the problem

Trump and his followers are under the misconception that all we need to do is look at map of the U.S and simply build the wall along where the border lines are drawn but it doesn't work that way. A lot of the land along the border is privately owned and in many cases extends beyond where the official border lines are on the map. The Federal Gov't is going to either have to buy all the land from those owners who won't sell it for cheap or forcibly confiscate their land.