Carper, Coons join colleagues to introduce bill to reverse President Trump's diversion of funds to border wall, defend National Guard
Statement
U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined 30 additional Senators to introduce the Restoring Military Priorities Act of 2020. The bill would reverse and restore the Department of Defense's (DoD) recent short sighted and dangerous transfer of $3.8 billion to be used to build part of President Donald Trump's ineffective border wall. The bill also reduces DoD's transfer authority so that DoD cannot turn around and try to divert additional funding for President Trump's border wall. Currently, there is no other process at hand to reverse a reprogramming.
The transfer takes more than $1 billion from the National Guard, including $790 million for the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account, and may impact funding for units within the state. The transfer also raids nearly $1.5 billion in funds provided by Congress to the Navy and Marine Corps--including funding for replacement aircraft vital to ensure the readiness and safety of our servicemembers.
"Once again, President Trump is ignoring the Constitution, disregarding a coequal branch of government and diverting funds from crucial military programs to build his ineffective border wall," said Senator Carper. "Not only will this not address the challenges along our southern border, but diverting these funds appropriated to the Department of Defense will impact the readiness of our National Guard and make Americans, and our military, less safe. If President Trump is serious about securing the border, he should work with Congress to build upon the smart investments made by the Obama Administration to address the root causes of irregular migration at the U.S. southern border--rather than raiding funding dedicated to our military and National Guard."
"It is unacceptable for the Trump Administration to divert Department of Defense funds away from the programs set by Congress," said Senator Coons. "Not only does this reprogramming undermine the role of Congress in setting funding, but it could also harm the ability of the Delaware National Guard and Guard units around the United States to accomplish their missions at home and abroad."
Source