Four days after the announcement of a series of executive actions to fund his signature border wall, President Donald Trump's administration still needs to fill in the details on his plans to shift over $6.6 billion from the Pentagon and Treasury Department into funding border security, as members of Congress continue to wonder if the move will dig into their local military base construction projects.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers and their staffs were awaiting guidance on where the Pentagon would look for money in the $3.6 billion sought by the President in his emergency declaration from military construction projects, which was already the subject of new lawsuits.
"Congress has not enacted any emergency legislation even remotely related to border wall construction, and thus the President's reallocation of funds is unlawful," read a suit filed against the President and Pentagon by several environmental groups.
In a letter to the Acting Secretary of Defense, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) asked for a breakdown of which projects would be put on hold - as under the 'national emergency' law used by the President, the Pentagon would make those decisions - not the Congress.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Congress approved $10.3 billion for military construction in Fiscal Year 2019 - the $3.6 billion sought by the President would be more than one-third of that amount - which has drawn expressions of concern from lawmakers.
As Kaine noted in his letter, the move to shift money from military construction comes at a time when the Pentagon already was having to deal with hurricane damage at two major domestic bases - Camp Lejeune for the Marines in North Carolina, and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
Tyndall was seriously damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018 - and despite support for rebuilding the base, Congress has not yet acted on extra money for the Pentagon - or on broader hurricane relief for those hit in Florida and Georgia.
During the partial government shutdown, Democrats in the House approved a bill which had $12.1 billion in disaster aid, both for hurricanes and wildfires - but that bill does not seem to be on the agenda in the U.S. Senate at this point.
The Commandant of the Marine Corps said over the weekend that he needs $3.5 billion just for repairs at Camp LeJeune from damage caused by Hurricane Florence in September of 2018 - which is equal to the figure of how much in military construction the President wants to shift into a border wall.
Earlier this month, Air Force officials said they planned to spend $3 billion to rebuild Tyndall, which was flattened by Hurricane Michael in October of last year.
House Democrats say they plan to hold a hearing as soon as next week to get a better idea on what military construction projects the Pentagon wants to scrap - in order to move money to the wall.
Also still unclear is the legal underpinnings for two other moves announced last week by the White House, where the President would move money from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund, as well as money from a Pentagon anti-drug account - into a border wall.
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