On Monday, the Pentagon announced that $1 billion would be reallocated to fund a portion of a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. The announcement included that the barrier construction funding is “in support of the February 15 national emergency declaration on the southern border of the United States.”
How far will $1 billion go toward the wall? The Pentagon sent a notification to Congress indicating that this money would pay for 57 miles of “18-foot-high pedestrian fencing.” It “gives the Department of Defense the authority to construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States in support of counter-narcotic activities of Federal law enforcement agencies.”
BREAKING: The Pentagon has notified Congress that it has authorized the transfer of $1 billion to begin new wall construction along the US-Mexico border
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 26, 2019
If you are wondering how this money is allowed to be reallocated in this manner, The Blaze reports:
Congress had already approved this $1 billion for the Pentagon. In September, Trump signed a $674 billion appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon, including money for the purchase of new ships, fighter jets, and increased troop levels.
President Trump declared a national emergency to build the wall after a spending bill failed to include funding. Congress passed resolutions to block Trump’s executive order in February and this month, but those were overturned by the president’s veto.
Not surprisingly, Democrats opposed this reallocation of funds by the Pentagon. “In a letter to acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, 10 Democratic senators objected to the funding transfer,” The Blaze notes. “The letter stated, ‘The $1 billion reprogramming that the Department is implementing without congressional approval constitutes dollar-for-dollar theft from other readiness needs of our Armed Forces.”
The Pentagon has signed off on $1 billion for the border wall.
The money will go toward:
–Erecting 57 miles of 18-feet-high pedestrian fencing
— Constructing/improving roads
— Installing lighting within the Yuma and El Paso sectors of the borderhttps://t.co/11YIRI70WA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 26, 2019
“The senators then listed ‘substantial shortfalls’ in the budgets of the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, which they said ‘currently total $5 billion,” The Blaze reports. “The $1 billion for the wall, the senators argued, should go toward fixing these existing issues.”
Should the $1 billion be taken away from these branches of the military to build the wall? Or should the wall come second when it comes to fully funding our armed forces?
Here’s the better question: Why is it so difficult for Washington leaders to find funding for both the wall and the military? They regularly waste more money than the wall costs on things we don’t need.
Thankfully President Trump is there to keep things straight!