Faced with opposition from Democrats in Congress, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in February to get his wall built at the southern border, diverting billions in previously appropriated funds from other projects.
A large chunk of that change was slated to come from various Department of Defense (DoD) construction projects, and on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper informed Congress that he’s signed off on it.
Esper approved the transfer of roughly $3.6 billion for the construction of approximately 175 miles of the newly designed border barrier, Breitbart reported.
Stamp of approval
“I have determined that 11 military construction projects along the international border with Mexico, with an estimated total cost of $3.6 billion, are necessary to support the use of the armed forces in connection with the national emergency,” Esper wrote in a letter to Congress.
“These projects will deter illegal entry, increase the vanishing time of those illegally crossing the border, and channel migrants to ports of entry,” the Defense secretary added. “They will reduce the demand for DoD personnel and assets at the locations where the barriers are constructed and allow the redeployment of DoD personnel and assets to other high-traffic areas on the border without barriers.”
All of the funds come from already deferred military construction projects that have been deemed low priorities, according to Esper, who noted that care was taken to ensure none of the diverted funds had been slated for family housing, dormitories, or barracks.
Democrats cry foul
Still, Esper’s move prompted a predictable backlash from Democrats, who, as usual, ignored the actual facts of the matter and appealed to emotion in response to the diverted funds. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration of attempting to “cannibalize” the Defense budget for a vanity project, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the diverted funds would “undermine our national security and the quality of life [and] morale” for military service members and their families.
Pelosi also vowed to fight the move in the courts, but there is one problem with her plan: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a related case in July that President Trump has the congressionally-delegated authority to shift previously appropriated funds to priority national security projects, such as the improved border wall.
Indeed, a court fight was already waged over roughly $2.5 billion that had been diverted to 100 miles of the new wall from the Pentagon’s counter-narcotics program, a move upheld 5-4 by the Supreme Court.
Build that wall!
With the green-light from Esper, the Pentagon expects construction on the new projects to begin as soon as 135 days from now — and that’s good news for both Trump and the military.
The director of operations for the military’s Joint Staff, Army Lt. Gen. Andrew Poppas, suggested that the completion of these new sections of wall will free up roughly 7,500 National Guard troops who have been deployed to the border. While Poppas didn’t speculate on a timeline for the move, he noted that troops could then either be reassigned to other areas still in need of assistance or even sent home.
It looks like President Trump is finally getting his oft-promised border wall built. While it has taken some time to get all of the pieces in place, the project is finally getting off the ground.
919 Responses
I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye
I do accept as true with all the concepts you have offered on your post. They’re really convincing and can definitely work. Still, the posts are too short for novices. May just you please prolong them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
Hey there, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, superb blog!
Howdy this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
you’re truly a good webmaster. The website loading velocity is amazing. It sort of feels that you are doing any distinctive trick. Also, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve done a great activity in this matter!
we are a company located in humboldt county CA we have a large selection of top shelf marijuana strains, we also have vapes, edibles and more. Our customers are our top priority, please contact us if you have questions like where to buy cannabis online in restricted states/countries.
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I am shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
I’ve read a few good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much effort you put to make such a magnificent informative site.
Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and everything. However imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this site could undeniably be one of the most beneficial in its field. Terrific blog!
Valuable information. Lucky me I found your site by accident, and I am stunned why this twist of fate didn’t came about in advance! I bookmarked it.
Only a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great style .
Hello, you used to write excellent, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your great writings. Past several posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, terrific blog!
Thanks for your article. It is very unfortunate that over the last one decade, the travel industry has already been able to to take on terrorism, SARS, tsunamis, bird flu virus, swine flu, as well as the first ever real global economic collapse. Through it all the industry has really proven to be powerful, resilient in addition to dynamic, obtaining new tips on how to deal with difficulty. There are often fresh complications and possibilities to which the market must yet again adapt and act in response.
Major thanks for the blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.
Thanks a lot for the blog post.Really thank you!
I have been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
I loved your blog article.Much thanks again.
I have to express some appreciation to you just for bailing me out of such a dilemma. Right after looking out through the world-wide-web and coming across strategies which were not pleasant, I figured my life was well over. Existing devoid of the solutions to the difficulties you’ve solved all through your good site is a crucial case, and those which may have adversely damaged my entire career if I hadn’t come across your blog. Your good competence and kindness in maneuvering all the stuff was priceless. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t encountered such a point like this. It’s possible to at this moment look forward to my future. Thank you very much for the expert and amazing help. I won’t be reluctant to suggest your web sites to any individual who should have counselling on this topic.
Wow, great blog article.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Very neat blog article.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
I was just looking for this info for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this kind of informative websites in top of the list. Normally the top websites are full of garbage.
Thanks a lot for the article.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog article or vice-versa? My site discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
Greetings from California! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, amazing blog!
Enjoyed every bit of your post.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Thank you for your article post. Really Great.
Very interesting subject , thankyou for putting up. “To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.” by G. K. Chesterton.
But wanna say that this is handy , Thanks for taking your time to write this.
My spouse and i felt fulfilled that Louis managed to finish up his inquiry while using the precious recommendations he had from your web page. It’s not at all simplistic just to happen to be making a gift of points that some other people have been trying to sell. We already know we have the blog owner to be grateful to for that. The specific explanations you made, the simple website navigation, the friendships you will help to foster – it’s got most astounding, and it’s really making our son in addition to us feel that this content is cool, and that is particularly mandatory. Thank you for the whole lot!
Sweet blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Many thanks
you have an ideal blog here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new feedback are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the identical comment. Is there any manner you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
This paragraph gives clear idea in favor of the new visitors of blogging, that truly how to do blogging.
Very good blog article. Great.
Im grateful for the article.Really thank you! Really Great.
I like what you guys are up too. Such smart work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my site :).
Wow, great article post.Much thanks again.
I really like and appreciate your post. Want more.
Awesome blog.Much thanks again. Want more.