GOP lawmaker: Mexico paying for wall a ‘gimmick’

A GOP lawmaker says President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to have Mexico pay for a wall on the southern border was a “gimmick.”

“I never thought that would happen,” Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) told CNN. “I thought it was a gimmick.”

Looking to make good on one of Trump’s highest-profile campaign promises, House Republicans are gunning to include funding for the border wall in a must-pass spending package that has to be approved by April 28 to avoid a government shutdown.

{mosads}The plan to include funding for the wall in the package is tied to a 2006 law signed by President George W. Bush calling for a physical barrier along the country’s southern border. That project was never completed.

But the plan also suggests that Mexico would not be paying for the wall, as Trump has touted. Instead, the cost of building the wall, which some estimates place at $14 billion, would be paid by the U.S.

The president-elect took to Twitter on Friday to deny that claim, saying that Mexico would reimburse the U.S. for any money spent building the wall.

“The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!” Trump tweeted.

The $14 billion pricetag doesn’t include the cost of maintenance or paying border patrol agents.