There is some controversy over who will be paying for President-elect Donald Trump's Mexican-border wall: U.S. tax payers or Mexico.
One of Trump's staples of his campaign was that he would build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. However, new reports suggest Trump may ask Congress to pay for the border wall.
According to reports from the Associated Press and Politico, Congressional Republicans and Trump's transition team are discussing the possibility of funding his southern border wall through Congress, not Mexico.
That goes against this campaign promise which he tweeted in September:
Mexico will pay for the wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2016
Trump has responded to these reports in a tweet early Friday morning:
The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
Web anchor Caitlyn Jones tweeted a question to Trump and is awaiting to hear back.
.@realDonaldTrump So, do you confirm you want construction of the wall to be part of congress's spending bill?
— Caitlyn Jones (@CaitlynJonesTV) January 6, 2017
However, Trump did suggest that Mexico would reimburse the U.S. for the wall in a speech in October, just a couple of weeks before the election. In the speech, he was laying out his plan for his first 100 days in office. That information can be read on Trump's site.
Trump has not released details into how Mexico would reimbursing the U.S.
Getting back to how Congress may pay for the wall, anonymous sources, two congressional officials and a senior transition official, said they are considering using a law signed by former President George W. Bush in 2006 that allowed construction of more than 700 miles of “physical barrier” on the U.S. and Mexico border.
The plan would be part of a spending bill that Congress must pass by April 28, to avoid government shutdown.
There's no doubt Democrats will put up a fight. Some are already expressing their disapproval on Twitter.
California Representative Jared Huffman tweeted:
You must be kidding! "Mexico will pay for it" was code for "US taxpayers will pay for it?" Bait+switch has begun. https://t.co/1arEavmleK
— Jared Huffman (@JaredHuffman) January 6, 2017
Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline posted this tweet:
Turns out when Trump said, "Mexico will pay for it," what he really meant was, "working Americans will pay for it." https://t.co/8vR5eBCJLd
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) January 6, 2017
News 13 has contacted Trump's team and is still waiting for a response to the reports.