That’s not so much border wall construction as border wall improvements or repair.
upgrading is also significant
Yeah, this is not the wall - this is repairing/replacing our existing crap wall which didn’t work that well. The real wall is still not funded.
Brilliant turn of phrase, there; we should sell it to the left like that. “No worries, Senator Fineswine, it’s not so much new construction as it is a beautification project. The existing wall is just — well it’s an eyesore, but it’ll be gorgeous once we get this renovation done.”
Muhuhuhu-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa!
“That’s not so much border wall construction as border wall improvements or repair.”
The approach guiding President Trump’s program, is prioritizing the areas of highest traffic first (usually the urban areas). In most cases, there is already some kind of barrier - just too easy for pedestrians to get through.
Even though it may be “improvements” or “repair” rather than new wall, it is still the most effective place to reduce illegal immigration. They are also the most important places to have the new solid, durable barrier, in case Democrats come into power, and leave it to be ripped open by vandals. The heavy new bollard-style barrier will stop a speeding dump truck.
33 miles of new barrier was funded in the last budget for the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, around McAllen. That is the single area of the border with the highest rate of illegal entry. They are currently in the contracting process. It should be awarded/start work in the next few months. That will be the biggest impact of this year’s barrier building, by far.
The 33 miles of new barrier will fill the gaps in the existing barrier around there, so when its done (about two years) it will actually be a larger stretch, and significantly divert flows.
If President Trump only receives the $1.6 billion per year that he got added to the ten year budget baseline this year, he will basically button up the big urban areas, and divert immigrant/smuggling flows into smaller towns and difficult rural treks during his first term. But reports have come out that they intend to raise the baseline to around $2.5 billion per year in the next budget, and have a few different approaches working to get significantly more money up front. If so, we could see a big ramp up next year.
You sound like the guy in Christmas Vacation looking at 10,000 lights...Instead of saying something good, he says “They’re not blinking...”