Top lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration after it announced it would shift nearly $4 billion from the military budget toward building some 177 miles of fencing across the U.S.-Mexico border, in efforts to address drug-smuggling activities.
The funding move was announced on Feb. 13 by the Department of Defense (DOD).
The top Democrat and Republican lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee last week criticized the move.
Thornberry said that the move “undermines the principle of civilian control of the military and is in violation of the separation of powers within the Constitution.”
He added that the wall’s funding “must come through the Department of Homeland Security rather than diverting critical military resources that are needed and in law.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) accused President Donald Trump of being “obsessed” with fulfilling a campaign promise “at the expense of our national security.”
“This repeated maneuver to transfer funds once again is in contrast to the long-established processes involving consultation with the defense oversight committees of Congress on reprogrammings and transfers.”
“DHS has identified areas along the southern border of the United States that are being used by individuals, groups, and transnational criminal organizations as drug smuggling corridors, and determined that the construction of additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the United States border is necessary in order to impede and deny drug smuggling activities,” reads the request, signed by acting DOD comptroller Elaine McCusker.
Diverting money from the defense appropriations would affect funding for two F-35 fighters, eight Reaper drones, four Air Force C-130 transport aircraft, two Marine V-22 Osprey helicopters, amphibious ships, National Guard equipment, and Army trucks.
“These funds were intended to upgrade outdated aircraft and maintain readiness by improving equipment and weapons systems, which could affect West Virginia’s National Guard and Reserve units’ preparedness as well as manufacturing jobs in our state,” Manchin said in a statement.
He added that he believes the move is a “direct violation of Congress’s power to appropriate funds.”
Bob Salesses, the deputy assistant defense secretary, told reporters on Thursday that the funds are intended to help build 30-foot fencing on federally-controlled land in six border areas: San Diego and El Centro, California; Yuma and Tuscon, Arizona; and El Paso and Del Rio, Texas. He added that a review by the Pentagon concluded that all the sectors are “high-intensity drug trafficking” areas.
