{"id":46847,"date":"2019-02-15T15:54:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T15:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/15\/white-house-promises-using-military-funds-to-build-trumps-border-wall-wont-hurt-force-readiness\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:49:05","slug":"white-house-promises-using-military-funds-to-build-trumps-border-wall-wont-hurt-force-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/budget\/2019\/02\/15\/white-house-promises-using-military-funds-to-build-trumps-border-wall-wont-hurt-force-readiness\/","title":{"rendered":"White House promises using military funds to build Trump\u2019s border wall won\u2019t hurt force readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/01\/25\/51-democrats-want-to-block-to-trump-from-using-military-to-build-border-wall\/\" target=\"_blank\">objections from Congress<\/a>, White House officials will shift about $3.6 billion in military construction funds to build President Donald Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/14\/what-base-projects-lose-out-if-trump-uses-military-money-to-build-his-wall\/\" target=\"_blank\">controversial southern border wall<\/a>, potentially delaying repairs and upgrades for facilities at a host of bases worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But administration officials said they are confident that they can move the money around without harming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/11\/03\/border-mission-doesnt-fit-mattis-focus-on-lethality\/\" target=_blank>military readiness and lethality<\/a> and that the defense construction projects will be repaid next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Rose Garden press conference on Friday, Trump said the move is justified because of the imminent national security threat posed by illegal immigration across the southern U.S. border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe fight wars 6,000 miles away, many we don\u2019t have any business being in, but we don\u2019t fight the wars at our own border,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/14\/what-base-projects-lose-out-if-trump-uses-military-money-to-build-his-wall\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4938644.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Which construction projects would be affected if Trump uses military money to build a wall?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">More than $21 billion in planned military construction could be disrupted by the president&#039;s latest gambit on border security.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have tremendous amounts of drugs flowing into our country, much of it coming from the southern border \u2026 They say walls don\u2019t work, but walls work 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s decision to declare a national emergency and reprogram the military construction funds came just hours after Congress passed a full-year budget for a handful of federal agencies \u2014 the Departments of Homeland Security and State, among others \u2014 avoiding a second partial government shutdown this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers provided about $1.4 billion for Trump\u2019s proposed wall project in that budget deal, nearly $4 billion short of the White House request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Administration officials said they will tap about $600 million in Department of Treasury counter-narcotics funds and $2.5 billion in Defense Department anti-drug monies to make up that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But they also argued that won\u2019t be enough, prompting Trump\u2019s decision to declare a national emergency. Congressional aides said that under existing authorities, the declaration gives the president broad appropriations reprogramming powers, including the ability to use funds already assigned to other military construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked if the moves could hurt military readiness, Trump responded that \u201csome of the generals think this is more important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters that the move was necessary given the political stalemate in Washington over the immigration issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been through a shutdown,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through three weeks of Congress trying to work through funding border security. They can\u2019t get their work done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has argued that large caravans of migrants amassing in South and Central America pose a significant national security threat to southern states, and last fall he ordered several thousand active-duty troops to the region to help assist in Homeland Security efforts on border control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his address, Trump praised military members for their border security work thus far, calling their presence \u201cnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf we had a wall, we wouldn\u2019t need the military,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But critics have blasted the president, saying he is militarizing the immigration debate with the troop deployments and money moves. They\u2019ve also warned that moving around military construction dollars will hurt troops and their families by delaying needed base improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/01\/25\/51-democrats-want-to-block-to-trump-from-using-military-to-build-border-wall\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4902491.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">51 Democrats want to block Trump from using military to build border wall<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Amid reports President Trump is drafting a national emergency to divert Pentagon funds for his border wall, some Democrats are working to turn this path into a dead end.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About $21 billion in unobligated military construction funds from the last five years are now available to the president for the wall construction. The money is connected to a host of planned housing, medical and logistics projects in the United States and overseas but has not yet been spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Administration officials said specific projects have not yet been selected for the funding reprogramming, but any decisions will be made in coordination with the Defense Department with an eye towards protecting force \u201clethality and readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also said they would lean toward using money assigned to repair and maintenance for existing facilities that can be delayed until next fiscal year, when Congress will be asked to replenish those lost funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Capitol Hill staffers said they have not yet been given any indication what military construction projects are vulnerable under the emergency declaration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the projects approved by Congress just last year are a new vehicle maintenance shop at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, drydock repairs at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, F-35 hangar improvements at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, and new family housing builds in Korea, Italy and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even before Friday. the national emergency declaration drew harsh criticism on Capitol Hill, both from Democrats opposed to the wall proposal and members of the president\u2019s own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Armed Services Committee ranking member Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, a vocal defender of the president\u2019s decision to deploy troops to the border, said that diverting \u201csignificant\u201d Defense Department funds for the wall \u201cwould undercut one of the most significant accomplishments of the last two years: beginning to repair and rebuild our military.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He warned that military infrastructure \u201cwas one of the accounts most deprived during the Obama-era defense cuts\u201d and said he would lobby the president to consider other options for the wall project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democratic leadership has promised a lawsuit to challenge the emergency move. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that he visited the southern border last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI can attest that there is no crisis or emergency of the kind the president alleges,&#8221; Hoyer said. He added that declaring a national emergency \u201cwould be a violation of the spirit of our laws and run counter to our constitutional principles of separation of powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., called Trump\u2019s decision \u201cputting his political agenda and empty campaign promises ahead of the needs of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The more than $8 billion Trump will have available for construction after the emergency moves is expected to build about 234 miles of new wall along the country\u2019s border with Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">-Removing lead from military housing<br>-Making overseas bases safer <br>-Upgrading hospitals that treat wounded troops<br><br>These are the types of projects military construction funding is supposed to pay for when it isn\u2019t stolen to build a wall that won\u2019t make us safer.<\/p>&mdash; Tim Kaine (@timkaine) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/timkaine\/status\/1096437822800711681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About $3.6 billion in military construction funds will be reassigned to the border wall project under Trump&#8217;s emergency order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":99807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":44,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[44,8,160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3424],"class_list":["post-46847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GYXYSLF2HVHIBCJ7M65HKDROBQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/15\/white-house-promises-using-military-funds-to-build-trumps-border-wall-wont-hurt-force-readiness\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>White House promises using military funds to build Trump\u2019s border wall won\u2019t hurt force readiness - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"About $3.6 billion in military construction funds will be reassigned to the border wall project under Trump&#039;s emergency order.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"White House promises using military funds to build Trump\u2019s border wall won\u2019t hurt force readiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About $3.6 billion in military construction funds will be reassigned to the border wall 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