SCOOP: Trump budget chief Vought tells GOP senators $175B needed ‘immediately’ for border security

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s newly sworn in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought emphasized to Republican senators the urgent need for border security funding on Tuesday, telling them an immediate $175 billion is necessary. 

At a weekly Senate GOP lunch, Trump’s budget chief spoke to lawmakers, stressing that more money and resources are needed to secure the border and continue undoing Biden-era immigration policies, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital exclusively. 

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Office of Management and Budget Director Vought, inset, told GOP senators there is a pressing need for $175 billion in border funding. (Getty Images)

In his presentation, Vought detailed what the administration requires for “robust and sustained” border security and immigration enforcement, according to the official. 

Vought explained that given Trump’s significant actions to address illegal immigration, money is running out, and for the administration to keep enforcing the new policies and conducting operations across the country, those resources must be renewed. 

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A group of more than 100 migrants attempt to enter the U.S. illegally rush a border wall Thursday, March 21, 2024. In the process, the migrants knock down Texas National Guardsmen before they are halted by the border wall. (James Breeden for New York Post / Mega)

The funding being sought would go toward ramping up personnel across agencies, expanding detention capacity and reinstituting the “Remain in Mexico” program. 

It would also include border wall construction and building border infrastructure, deploying innovative surveillance technology to the border, deporting migrants, military support for deportation operations, enhancing the Coast Guard’s role in border enforcement and giving state and local governments the financial and operational resources to deal with the effects of large-scale illegal immigration, per the official. 

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This was relayed to the Republican senators by Vought during the GOP lunch. 

The $175 billion topline request has already been factored into Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham’s reconciliation bill, which is slated to go through the key committee this week. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune. (Getty Images)

Initially, House Republicans were expecting to take the lead on reconciliation, and they wanted to do so with a one-bill approach, addressing each Trump priority altogether. But the lower chamber’s pace quickly frustrated senators, prompting Graham and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to press forward with their plan. 

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Vought’s address to Senate Republicans also came after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to top appropriators in the House and Senate, similarly expressing the necessity of additional border funding. 

“Even if the price of some of these measures may seem high, they are nothing when compared to the costs our country is facing in the long term of continuing the status quo,” they said of the pressing need.