Trump's border wall one year into his term is no more than prototype

Washington

ALMOST a year into US President Donald Trump's first term, the border wall he passionately promoted throughout his election campaign amounts to eight prototypes, no more than 30 feet long each, sitting in a desert outside San Diego.

No funding has been appropriated by Congress to advance the project beyond the testing phase. There's no final design. And despite Mr Trump's rallying cry that Mexico would pay for the barrier, that country hasn't contributed a peso.

The wall, an emotional centrepiece of Mr Trump's populist candidacy, is resurfacing as Washington turns from tax legislation to a fight over government spending for the rest of the fiscal year.

A spending package Congress plans to debate in January will test whether hi…