09.05.19

NEWS: Schatz, Leahy, Durbin Statement On DoD Plan To Defund Military Projects To Pay For Trump Wall

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, released the following statement after the Department of Defense announced it will divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to pay for President Trump’s border wall.

“Congress trusts that when the Department of Defense asks for money, it’s because they need it. But that trust has now been eroded.

“We will strongly oppose any request by this administration to provide additional money for the projects it has decided to defund. The funds already appropriated should be used as Congress intended. The American people cannot be asked to foot the bill a second time for projects that this administration has decided are less important than a vanity wall that will do nothing to end the humanitarian crisis on the southern border or protect our national security. The President promised that Mexico would pay for his wall, not the military and their families.”

###