U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he believes President Donald Trump "will be insistent" that lawmakers include money for a US-Mexico border wall in a spending bill that they need to pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown, CNN reported.
In an interview, Kelly said he's confident Trump will "do the right thing." "I think it goes without saying that the President has been pretty straightforward about his desire and the need for a border wall," he said. "So I would suspect he'll do the right thing for sure." Kelly said he thought Trump "will be insistent on the funding" for the wall.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney did not guarantee a shutdown threat, saying funding for the wall was one of several subjects being negotiated.
In addition, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he does not expect the Mexican government to outright pay for Trump's border wall, but there are a number of ways to extract the billions of dollars needed to build it. "We're going to get it paid for one way or the other." Sessions implied other actions at the border and in trade could pay for the wall.
"I don't expect the Mexican government to appropriate money for it," Sessions said. "But there are ways that we can deal with our trade situation to create the revenue to pay for it. No doubt about it." An internal estimate from Customs and Border Protection put the cost of the wall at $21.6 billion, while an estimate from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the wall could cost as much as $66.9 billion.

Source: QNA