Rand Paul’s pledge for border funding to be trimmed in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ is not hitting well

Sen. Rand Paul’s announcement about changes to the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is riling up social media.

As Los Angeles burns due to riots over the enforcement of United States immigration law, news that an updated version of President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” will contain less border funding is not going over well on X.

Paul has lobbied against what he deems to be excessive spending on the southern border, arguing for a tighter budget due to a decrease in illegal border crossings since Trump has taken office.

“It will actually be the conservative version of how much money we spend,” Paul explained to reporters.

“The wall, if you look at the [Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] website — until they removed it yesterday — they said it would cost $6.5 million per mile,” the senator added of the building efforts. “If you add that up for about 1,000 miles that’s $6.5 billion. They asked for $46.5 billion, so they got a math problem. Instead of addressing the math problem, CBP took that off their website two days ago.”

Taking to X, Paul made his case for a smaller border budget:

Let’s take the proposed border wall.

Proposed fence cost: $46.5 billion
Actual fence cost: $6.5 billion

How did I come up with that number? Math based on costs, according to Border Patrol.
$6.5 million per mile x 1,000 miles of border wall = $6.5 billion

Where is that extra…

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 9, 2025

Don’t fall for the Swamp’s version of reality, where they claim we either borrow against our future to secure our border now, or we have wide-open borders. We can have BOTH border security AND fiscal responsibility. $75 billion is more than enough to accomplish both.

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 9, 2025

“We can cut the proposed border funding in half, from $150 billion to $75 billion, and still secure our border and protect the American people. Let me give you an example of how this is excessive,” he wrote. “Let’s take the proposed border wall. Proposed fence cost: $46.5 billion Actual fence cost: $6.5 billion How did I come up with that number? Math based on costs, according to Border Patrol. $6.5 million per mile x 1,000 miles of border wall = $6.5 billion Where is that extra $40 billion going?”

“I’m all for hiring new people to help secure our borders, but we don’t need it to the extent that’s in this bill, especially when our border is largely contained. We have to remember that every person we hire comes with added costs: health care benefits, pension benefits, the list goes on,” he continued. “Don’t fall for the Swamp’s version of reality, where they claim we either borrow against our future to secure our border now, or we have wide-open borders. We can have BOTH border security AND fiscal responsibility. $75 billion is more than enough to accomplish both.”

Unfortunately for Paul, this was not very popular on X:

When did you become so politically tone deaf?

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) June 9, 2025

I had so much respect for you till this week. Embarrassing. Read the room.

— Tony Spencer (@notsleepy) June 10, 2025

we need wartime reps, and you ain’t one

— killtrails (@killtrails9) June 9, 2025

We gave Ukraine $200 billion for security, why can’t we give ourselves $150 billion?

This doesn’t make sense.

— SSgt Texkota (@texkota) June 9, 2025

Or let’s double it and make it even better, like that tiny amount matters at this point. Cut somewhere else. Salaries, bonuses, extras ya all get. I could get behind that.

— Lipps ForHer (@Lippsfearn) June 10, 2025