Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have been selling Donald Trump's border wall as a mere (!) $10- to $15-billion project. Now that appears to be an enormous undersell and especially egregious for Ryan, who prides himself on his wonky Midwestern ways. Here's what Politico Playbook Plus is reporting:
ACTUALLY -- People on the Hill involved in budgeting think it could be as high as $50 billion when all is said and done.
Holy cow—50 billion smackaroos! That is particularly startling given that the entire budget the Department of Homeland requested for 2017 was $40.6 billion.
"The President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Budget Request of $40.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reflects our continued commitment to the security of our homeland and the American Public."
But that was under President Obama, sans border wall. Better double that number and then some. Man, Republicans are really rolling out the savings here.
PPP released a poll Friday showing a majority of Americans oppose building this boondoggle of a wall if they have to pay for it out of their own pocket—which is exactly what will happen.
Only 37% of voters want the wall if US taxpayers have to front the cost for it, to 56% who are against that.
That was before we knew it could cost $50 billion, with a B! Trump’s stuck a lot of small business owners with the bill for work they did on his properties over the years, now he’s gonna stick American taxpayers with a $50 billion tab for his “big, beautiful” border wall. #MAGA