Senate Republicans cast doubt Tuesday on President Trump’s request for $46 billion in new border wall money, saying that would be enough to cover the U.S.-Mexico border more than two times over.
Mr. Trump has already completed 70 miles of new barriers in his second term, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers. She said that’s a mix of permanent wall, temporary fencing and water buoys to deter wading or rafting across the Rio Grande.
She said her department needs tens of billions of dollars more to finish the president’s marquee campaign promise, left unfinished, from his first term.
But budget-hawk Republicans said the numbers don’t add up.
“Sharpen your pencil,” Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, told Ms. Noem. “It’s more than you need.”
Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, ran through the math with Ms. Noem during a hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
He said the border is roughly 1,950 miles long, and Ms. Noem said about 700 miles of barrier exist currently. Mr. Paul said hundreds of miles just aren’t right for a wall, because of the terrain.
But even with 1,000 miles still to go, at a current cost of $12 million per mile, that only comes to $12 billion — or roughly a third of the $46 billion the president has requested.
“The number’s way off,” Mr. Paul said. “We can’t just throw $30 billion out there and say ’Things cost a lot.’”
Ms. Noem said she would provide more details for the senators later.
She found herself in a tricky position Tuesday, declaring the border has been secured while also asking lawmakers for an unprecedented infusion of cash.
She said some of the money would go to fix cameras Border Patrol agents use to keep eyes on what’s going on. She said two-thirds of those cameras are currently out of commission.
“The truth is that there’s portions of this border that we still don’t necessarily know what happens there 24/7,” Ms. Noem said.
Mr. Paul said he understood the “great symbolic value” of the wall, and he hailed Mr. Trump’s success in dramatically slashing illegal border crossings. But he said that cuts the other way, too.
“You’re controlling about 95% of the border without a wall right now, so that’s an argument that maybe you don’t need a wall, you need willpower,” Mr. Paul said.
Democrats, for their part, said they haven’t been impressed with how Ms. Noem is spending the budget she has right now.
Several pointed to hundreds of millions of dollars spent on ads that celebrate Mr. Trump’s border success and urge current illegal immigrants to self-deport.
One complained about Ms. Noem’s flights to visit with Department of Homeland Security personnel at their jobs along the border, at sea, or arresting illegal immigrants in the interior.
And Sen. Gary Peters, Michigan Democrat, demanded to know how much the government is spending to ship migrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“It’s costing about $100,000 a day to keep someone at Guantanamo Bay,” Mr. Peters said. He compared that to about $160 a day for detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the U.S.
Democrats also pressed Ms. Noem on reports that her department is working on a reality television show in which immigrants would compete for citizenship.
The secretary denied all knowledge of the idea, saying someone may have pitched it to the department but she was never told about it and has no interest.
“I did not know anything about this show until the reporter reached out,” she said.
Her spokeswoman told reporters last week that there was such a pitch and the department was “vetting” the idea.
The Daily Mail had originally reported on the idea.
Ms. Noem said that story was inaccurate and had to be corrected.
