As Texas Power Grid Struggles, Gov. Abbot Allots $250 Million In State Funds To Border Wall

What’s the priority in Texas right now? Apparently, the state’s governor believes that it’s a wall on the border with Mexico, and he’s devoting a quarter of a billion dollars in the state’s budget to getting it started.

Texans say they are worried about getting through the summer with the state’s struggling privatized power grid. They’ve asked for help, but according to KXAN Governor Greg Abbot is downplaying their concerns and telling citizens to use less power, rather than devoting resources to improving the power system, he’s pouring taxpayer funds into a border wall.

He says that the people who are expressing concerns are the same ones who criticized him for ending COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic, and that he believes they’re hoping for a power failure.

ICYMI: Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) allocates $250 million in state funds as a “down payment” for border wall. pic.twitter.com/TmLWTIiHFr

— The Recount (@therecount) June 17, 2021

Now he says that he’s taking $250 million from the state budget to start the process of building a border wall. He had previously, as Forbes reported earlier this week,asked for donations to fund the wall.

While Donald Trump had campaigned in the 2016 election cycle on making Mexico pay for the wall, Federal funds were instead redirected to it from other projects. During his presidency, he was criticized specifically for this bait-and-switch. In recent weeks, President Biden has stopped these funds from being diverted from the military and other budgets, and now Abbot says he’s planning to continue Trump’s project with funds donated from around the world, though he’s also redirecting taxpayer money to the job.