Pentagon plan to fund Trump's wall could hit Puerto Rico, European allies hard

[riversedge]

Pentagon plan to fund Trump’s wall could hit Puerto Rico, European allies hard


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/defunding-pentagon-construction-projects-for-border-wall-could-sting-puerto-rico-european-allies/2019/03/21/6d73ebc2-4c02-11e9-b871-978e5c757325_story.html?utm_term=.82d9ee2eb43c

Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 14. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)






By Paul Sonne and
Erica Werner
March 21 at 6:46 PM

Pentagon plans to take money away from military construction projects to pay for President Trump’s border wall would potentially deal an outsized blow to Puerto Rico and particularly affect a program helping European allies deter Russia, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Under pressure from lawmakers, the Defense Department released a list Monday detailing $12.9 billion in military construction projects that had received money from Congress but had yet to be contracted. That status puts them in a pool of funding that Trump could take for the wall using emergency powers.

The Pentagon hasn’t said which specific projects would be defunded. But it has ruled out taking money from military housing projects or contracts due to award before the end of the fiscal year. When those are stripped out, the refined list decreases to $4.35 billion worth of projects that are actually vulnerable. The Trump administration plans to take up to $3.6 billion, or 83 percent, for the wall, meaning most of the projects on the shorter list face could be defunded.



“President Trump promised that Mexico would pay for his wasteful wall, and now he wants taxpayers, Washington state families, and our national security priorities to pay the price,”......................................................

Puerto Rico is the most affected U.S. territory or state, with 10 projects at a value of $403 million on the smaller list, according to The Post’s analysis.................

[riversedge]

1. Repugs are supporting Trump---no surprise.........

..............Republicans, however, insist that they will backfill the affected projects.

“Securing our southern border is of the utmost importance,” Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said this week in a statement. “While no final decisions have been made regarding specific funds to be used for border projects, I will work with my colleagues to backfill any funding that may be diverted from military construction projects.”

That puts the Democrats who control the House on a collision course with the Senate Republican majority over the issue. How it ultimately shakes out will probably remain unclear for months, as lawmakers work toward a Sept. 30 deadline, when government funding will expire if they don’t pass new spending bills for the 2020 fiscal year. The threat of another shutdown will loom.

Numerous other issues will also be at play, including Trump’s demands for still more money for the border wall and the need to raise the federal government’s borrowing limit.

Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) claimed ahead of casting her vote in favor of Trump’s national emergency declaration last week that she had received commitments from the Pentagon that it would leave certain projects in Arizona untouched.

[Historic NY]

2. School district next to West Point...

is already running close to 200k deficit this year. It will grow larger if they don't get supplemental funding.

[link:https://www.recordonline.com/news/20190319/highland-falls-school-district-faces-143k-budget-deficit|]

[riversedge]

3. schools are a low priority for trumpsters-except christian or more charter schools.

[spanone]

4. trump hates to Puerto Rico since they refused to kiss his ass.

take it to the courts