President Donald Trump on Thursday boasted about his planned wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, hinting at a Sept. 28 ground-breaking and telling Ohio construction workers "we're getting that sucker built."
"We started building our wall," Trump told members of Local 18 of the Ohio Operating Engineers Union at their Apprenticeship and Training Center in Richland, near Cleveland. "I'm so proud of it. We started.
"We have $1.6 million," referring to the amount appropriated by Congress in the $1.3 trillion omnibus budget bill he signed Friday. "We've already started.
"What a thing of beauty.
"And on Sept. 28, we go further — and we're getting that sucker built."
Trump has pushed for a border wall to stop illegal immigration since announcing his candidacy in 2015, though he declared it would be paid for by Mexico, which officials there have rebuffed.
Congress has resisted the idea of spending an estimated $21.6 billion for Trump's wall, but Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has spoken with the president about the potential use of military funds to pay for the barrier.
"They have talked about the proposal, potentially, but remember securing Americans and securing the nation is of paramount importance to the secretary," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said Thursday.
White provided no further details, saying these were "initial" conversations between Mattis and the president.
"We've done the planning," Trump said Thursday. "The wall looks good.
"It's properly designed. We have something special happening."
Regarding the $1.6 million from the budget bill, President Trump slammed Republicans for not supporting the plan.
Many conservatives attacked the budget as too large and for funding Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities.
"Frankly, if we had more Republican votes, we wouldn't have had to give away what we gave away," Trump told the crowd. "This was a waste in many cases."
Twenty-three Republican senators voted against the omnibus bill, versus 25 who supported it.
The GOP holds a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
"But the Democrats want things," the president explained, most likely referring to the $541 million allocated for the Gateway rail tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York championed the project.
"They don't want to focus on crime and borders and people pouring into our country, many of whom are not the people we want to come in," Trump said.
"We want a merit-based immigration system," the president added as the workers cheered. "We want people to come in on merit, not based on a lottery — you pick a ticket."
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