ECONOMY/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “The $1.3 trillion spending bill that would fund the government through September — and has President Donald Trump’s support — has the first money to build new border fencing under the Trump administration, but also puts a piece of the border in Texas off limits. A provision would block construction through the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, a critical section of the border where Trump’s Department of Homeland Security initially wanted to put an early stage of his border wall.
Overall, the bill includes $1.6 billion for border barriers and technology — including new construction for the first time since Trump took office. But Santa Ana was one of the first places Trump’s wall was set to be built, something the bill would halt. The bill would also restrict the kind of construction that can be done to only existing fencing — allowing Democrats to claim they blocked the President’s ‘wall’ and Republicans to claim they have begun the wall. Most of the allocated monies go to replacement fencing, as well.”
-Vanessa Yurkevich and Tal Kopan, “Congress moves to block border wall in key wildlife refuge,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 22, 2018 11:19am