Wyden co-sponsors bill to stop border wall funding ‘raid’
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Wednesday he is co-sponsoring legislation that would reverse what he called "the Trump administration’s short-sighted and dangerous transfer of $3.8 billion to build part of Donald Trump’s ineffective border wall."
The Restoring Military Priorities Act of 2020 also would reduce the Trump administration’s transfer authority, so it cannot turn around and try to divert additional funding for Trump’s border wall, Wyden said. Currently, there is no other process at hand to reverse a reprogramming.
“Looting Defense Department money that supports our troops and misdirecting those essential funds to slap up an ineffective wall is a bad idea even by the Trump administration’s low standards,” Wyden said. “Congress voted for these resources to support the needs of our service members, and I will stand up to make sure that’s exactly where these funds will go.”
The Trump administration’s most recent reprogramming targeted those serving in the National Guard and a variety of programs added by Congress to address shortfalls that were in many cases identified by military leaders.
Wyden said this was the third time in less than a year that the Trump administration has used this unilateral process to bypass Congress and divert funding to Trump’s border wall.
In the spring of 2019, the Trump administration transferred $2.5 billion in funding to be used to build part of Trump’s border wall, and he later raided an additional $3.6 billion in military construction funds for his wall, the senator said in a news release.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration reprogrammed another $3.8 billion from the National Guard and a variety of programs added by Congress to address shortfalls that were in many cases identified by military leaders in critical equipment.
In January, it was reported that Trump intends to raid $7.2 billion in Defense Department funds this year to pay for his wall, diverting funding from military families and forcing American taxpayers to pay for his vanity project and failed campaign promise.
The Restoring Military Priorities Act of 2020 was introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Doug Jones (D-AL). Other co-sponsors besides Wyden include Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Udall (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Chris Coons (D-DE).
