Has Trump's administration ever explained why they didn't "build the wall" before the midterms?

Question

Title pretty much says it all. The Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate before the midterms, so why didn't they push through funding for the wall then? The Republicans had two years to do this, and the Democrats would've had a harder time opposing the bill. Why now?

Did Trump, his administration's officials, or any prominent Republican ever explain why haven't they allocated the financing of "the wall" in the Federal Budget 2018?

The only explanation I can think of is that Republicans were very confident they'd win the midterms, but that doesn't seem to match the media coverage I saw.

Answer 1

Congress did provide funding for border barriers in each of FY 2017

In FY 2017 Congress provided DHS $292 million to build 40 miles of a steel bollard wall

and FY 2018

In FY18, Congress provided $1.375B for border wall construction which equates to approximately 84 miles of border wall in multiple locations across the Southwest border

Currently at issue is $5B funding for FY 2019

if funded at $5B in FY 2019 ... DHS is positioned to construct 215 miles of Border Patrol’s highest priority border wall miles

which would be for 215 miles of additional border barrier, for a total of 330 miles of border barrier - including FY 2017, FY 2018 and FY 2019.

Primary source: Walls Work

See also Is there any better estimate of the cost of a completed US-Mexico border wall?

Answer 2

For funding bills, it takes 60 votes to pass in the Senate. Before the mid-terms, Republicans only had 51 votes (with some defectors, like Flake and Corker). They have 53 votes now but still need 7 votes from Democrats.

Answer 3

Mostly because the Republicans hammered out a pretty hefty budget deal in early 2018

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a deal on budget caps that would increase investments in domestic programs and the military by roughly $300 billion over the next two years: The deal lifts funding for domestic programs by $128 billion and hikes defense budgets by $160 billion.

Remember that the last shutdown was caused by Democrats stonewalling over DACA

The bill does not address the fate of young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children and have been shielded from deportation by an Obama-era program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that Mr. Trump moved last year to end.

Republicans likely did not want to reopen the DACA issue in an election year, nor did they want to irk more Conservative members of their own party by spending even more on top of the massive deficit the budget created

That additional spending comes at the expense of adding even further to the national debt, which has topped $21 trillion. The growing debt has seemed of minimal concern on Capitol Hill in recent months, where Republicans passed a sweeping tax overhaul late last year that will also result in piling up more debt.

To some frustrated lawmakers, the heft of the spending bill was the very problem.

Answer 4

The short answer is no.

First, there is already about 700 miles of border wall. Trump's "wall" is a political tool to rally his base and nothing more, as proven by the fact that the GOP controlled congress, since Obama was in office, has chosen to do nothing to reform our immigration system, including punishing employers who hire undocumented workers. There is also the fact that no crisis exists, thus making dealing with immigration reform less urgent. Read Key findings about U.S. immigrants for some information about our immigration situation to see why "the wall" is unnecessary.

Trump is theater and the wall is part of that theater.

Answer 5

Here's a few facts about WHY these things take a long long time...

1. It's NOT a quick process. I'll explain a bit more about why down below. Here's the accelerated schedule for just a few RGV sectors.

• Even when the real estate is available, it takes a long time. Construction is not particularly slower for a 55 mile section than a 3 mile section!
• Just the planning and materials acquisition is half a year;
• Custom design is almost half a year
• Real Estate acquisition is half a year to over a year... and that's quite optimistic

(This is from "Levee Wall Overview, Border Infrastructure PMO", Bob Hardbarger 28 April 2017 US Army Corps of Engineers

2. Politicians talk about "The Wall". Actual CBP border people, and those responsible for construction and use, talk about the Border Wall System. It's not just a chunk of concrete with metal on top!

a) In the area MOST impacted, the LRGV (Lower Rio Grande Valley), there's an existing levee that goes back at LEAST to 1915. Bringing everything up to modern standards requires at the least improving the levee to match FEMA certification requirements. Here's another diagram (same source as the above, page 6 this time:

b) Here's a diagram describing the overall Wall System. I've seen the RFC's (Requests for Contract) ... the fancy FODS (Fiber Optic Detection System) had to be installed... yet actually lighting up the detectors is a whole separate process taking still more time. Just consider what's involved in spec'ing and building this much (particularly w/ careful environmental etc assessments along the way. They were allowed to overrule many complaints but they still had to do everything possible to make it as good as possible!). Same source (because it's handy ;) )

NOTE: I just did an intensive search for these documents online. I have a whole collection. Amazingly, they have been removed everywhere that I can find. That includes the place I absolutely would expect to find the one referenced in this post: the USACE Digital Library, which includes responsive FOIA documents, of which this is one! There are lots of older documents, but NOTHING on this subject at all. Isn't that interesting!