As President Trump plans to shift billions of dollars from the nation’s defense budget to his long promised border wall, his Republican colleagues have been left in a difficult position. According to Politico the money being shifted to the border wall will come from funds set aside for military construction projects and the war on drugs.
Speaking about the President’s plan, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said, “I wish they’d get the money somewhere else, instead of defense.”
In the last year, House and Senate Republicans have been forced to vote twice on whether to overturn Trump’s previous emergency order to move $3.6 billion in military construction funds to the border wall. Although Trump vetoed the attempts to stop funding for the border wall, GOP lawmakers were left pondering whether to support Trump or stall projects that would ultimately benefit military families in their home states.
In September, 11 GOP senators aligned with Democrats to rebuke Trump’s declaration. Sen. Lamar Alexander was one of the 11 Republican senators who sided with Democrats and claims he will vote again to defeat Trump’s emergency edict if it makes it to the floor for the third time. According to Alexander, Trump “should not spend money that Congress hasn’t appropriated using the emergency authority.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) says he expects more Republicans will vote against the president’s plan to shift $7.2 billion from military spending. However, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) blames the Democrats’ unwillingness to fund the wall as the reason Trump must go to such extremes to secure the necessary money to complete the border wall. According to the majority whip, “The problem is, Congress has failed to appropriate adequate funds for border security, which is the reason his hand was forced."
If Trump’s wall does receive funding from the military budget, service members and their families will essentially be forced to front the bill with money that was meant for national defense priorities and fighting the country’s opioid addiction epidemic.
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