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What $15B can buy in Washington

FILE - In this April 13, 2014, file photo shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters building in Washington. If one believes the back-of-the-envelope estimates by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump's border wall is going to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. That's a lot of money, even though it's just a minute fraction of a $4 trillion federal budget. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File) FILE - In this April 13, 2014, file photo shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters building in Washington. If one believes the back-of-the-envelope estimates by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump's border wall is going to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. That's a lot of money, even though it's just a minute fraction of a $4 trillion federal budget. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

By Associated Press January 26, 2017 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – If one believes the back-of-the-envelope estimates by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump’s border wall is going to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. That’s a lot of money, even though it’s just a minute fraction of a $4 trillion federal budget. Here are a few examples of what the government could do with $15 billion:

-Fund the Environmental Protection Agency for almost two years.

-Buy about 150 top-of-the-line F-35 fighter jets.

-Fund medical research at the National Institutes of Health for six months

-Pay for overseas military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for three months.

-Finance the IRS for eight months.

-Cover the government’s interest costs on the national debt for about three weeks.

-Provide food stamps to 45 million people for about two months.