Donald Trump promised the people a wall, but he might need to start a GoFundMe to build it. The border wall he hopes to erect at the U.S.-Mexico will cost the country a smooth $22 billion—or up to $70 billion?!—and a new bill from Republican Rep. Diane Black from Tennessee would let Trump crowdfund the money, according to The Hill.
The proposed law is called the Border Wall Trust Fund Act, and would “allow the secretary of the Treasury to accept public donations to fund the construction of a barrier on the border between the United States and Mexico, and for other purposes.” If this bill goes into law, people will be able to make donations straight to the treasury through a “publicly accessible website to receive such gifts.”
Black appeared on Fox News Monday night to talk about the proposed legislation. Host Harris Faulkner came in hot, asking tough questions: “What happened to Mexico paying for it?”
“I would like for Mexico to pay for that, and I’m not close enough to the administration to see what kind of pressure they’re putting on them,” said Black, who is running for governor this fall in Tennessee.
Black claims she’s received positive support of the bill from those “who really want to see a secure border” and would “be willing to help fund the wall.” Black even declared she would be the first to donate, adding that Trump has “built his case and hopefully in future funding there will be more funding for the wall, but why not have multiple sources so we can have the wall done faster?”
Maybe you’re reading this and wondering, “Wait, doesn’t the government already crowdfund for the wall by taking my tax dollars?” Well, you’re not wrong. A whopping $1.6 billion in tax money has already been set aside for the border, but this new bill specifically funnels donations to building the wall, without doing anything else our regular taxes do like help with infrastructure, Medicare, the military, etc. Since Trump’s recent tax breaks mostly help out the richest people in the country, it’s unlikely that an extra $22 billion, or up to $70 billion as some reports estimate, is going to be an easy goal to reach.
