Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee released a bill that allocates $1.6 billion in order to begin construction of a border wall along the U.S. southern border.
In recent days, conservative members warned they would pull votes from a budget/spending plan that did not included the financing of a border wall. Rep. Mark Meadows commented to Breitbart that the President would refuse to sign a spending measure if it did not include the wall.
In total, the bill allocates $13.8 billion to customs and border protection. That includes the $1.6 billion for the wall, $100 million to hire 500 more border patrol agents, $131 million for new border technology, $106 million for aircraft and sensors and $109 million for non-intrusive inspection equipment.
It also adds $619.7 million to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over current levels, for a total of $7 billion in spending.
