Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Wednesday he will vote to fund President Donald Trump's wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but that the price tag has to be lowered.
"I remain a fiscal conservative, even on the wall, so I'm not excited about spending $20-30-$40 billion on a wall," Paul told Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "The Situation Room." "I'm still a believer that we don't have money to spend. We're $700 billion in the hole."
Trump reiterated Wednesday funding for the wall needed to be tied to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which allowed people who illegally came to the United States as children with their parents to stay if they met certain criteria. Trump ended DACA in September with a six-month delay and said Congress needed to come up with a solution for the affected Dreamers.
He is asking for $18 billion over a decade to expand the wall, and $33 billion in total to increase security along the border, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Paul said the price has to be debated.
"I heard from somebody the other day that said we built 2,700 miles of concrete barriers on our interstates – all those noise control barriers – we've done that for $2 billion," Paul told Blitzer. "So, I think the price tag should be debated. I think we can have barriers, and we will have barriers in certain places; I think we should also use technology, which is less expensive.
"And while I will vote for money for barriers, I'm not voting for $40 billion for barriers," Paul added.
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