SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump promised to build a ‘big, beautiful’ wall, but a border official’s description of the first major steps of the project framed it as more of a fixer-upper. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitello told reporters during a news conference Friday [3-30-18] that the administration would put 2018 congressional appropriations — about $1.6 billion — toward creating or replacing roughly 100 miles of wall structures along the southern U.S. border. But Vitello declined to specify exactly how much of the that would go toward the creation of new barriers in previously uncovered areas as opposed to enhancing existing border structures.”
-Cristiano Lima, “Trump administration reveals Phase One of the border wall,” Politico, Mar. 30, 2018, 4:44pm