Senate deal would block Pentagon from using coronavirus funds on border wall [View all]
Source: the hill.
By Rebecca Kheel - 03/25/20 02:39 PM EDT
The massive stimulus package awaiting a vote in the Senate would prohibit the Pentagon from shifting $10.5 billion in coronavirus funding to a counter-drug account it has been using to fund President Trumps southern border wall.
According to bill text released by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill would allow the Pentagon to transfer the coronavirus funds to other accounts except for Drug March Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense.
A Democratic summary of the bill described the language as intended to prevent funds in this title from being diverted to build a wall on the southern border.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon transferred $3.8 billion from various weapons programs to the counter-drug fund to use to build the border wall.
Thats on top of $2.5 billion from counter-drug funds and $3.6 billion in military construction the Pentagon tapped last year to fund the wall.
The transfers infuriated Democrats -- and this year, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee -- who argued the Trump administration was usurping Congress power of the purse.
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Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/489496-senate-deal-would-block-pentagon-from-using-coronavirus-funds-on-border-wall