Congress Is Extremely Picky About Border Security In New Spending Bill

President Donald Trump claimed a victory Wednesday night, tweeting that he secured $1.6 billion from Congress to begin constructing part of his so-called border wall. 

Lawmakers did set aside that amount for border security in their bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending bill. But they're extremely specific about how that money can be used.

Of the total, millions of dollars is authorized to be used to build more than 90 miles of fencing along the Mexico border.

California's Gov. Wants Trump To Focus On 'Bridges, Not Walls'

California's Gov. Wants Trump To Focus On 'Bridges, Not Walls'

Gov. Jerry Brown invited Trump to visit the Central Valley, where preparations for a high-speed train line are taking place.

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Beyond never explicitly authorizing the funds to be used to build a wall, lawmakers included another catch: The border barriers must be built using "operationally effective designs" that are already deployed as of last May. 

That means none of the border wall prototypes that were built last fall can be used. 

Congress has until just before midnight Friday to pass a spending bill and get the president to sign it to avoid another government shutdown.