In the halcyon days of 2015, back when his “build the wall” mantra was more of a mnemonic device, Donald Trump claimed that constructing his “beautiful” barrier along the southern border would be “easy.” “It’s not even a difficult project if you know what you’re doing,” he insisted. Fast forward to 2019, and his quest for a wall has been anything but simple. Mexico isn’t paying, and Trump’s emergency declaration, a last-ditch effort to fund the thing, is facing multiple legal challenges. In desperation, the president has reportedly turned to the Pentagon for help. And according to The Washington Post, his newly-installed acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, is happy to comply.
Per the Post*, the Pentagon is planning to shift another $1.5 billion to Trump’s project from its own programs—including its ballistic missile program, its Airborne Warning and Control System, and a program that funds war efforts abroad. Shanahan maintains the diversion won’t adversely effect military operations: “The Department carefully selected sources for the reprogramming that are excess or early to need and will not adversely affect military preparedness,” read a document reviewed by the Post. Still, the fact that the D.O.D. is funneling money from bona fide defense systems to fund a wall that will be largely ineffective is deeply ironic.
Also ironic: that Trump, who has claimed the D.O.D. was “depleted” by Barack Obama’s administration, would siphon funds from D.O.D. programs to fund his pet project. Democrats, too, are incensed at the move, noting that raiding the Pentagon’s coffers is yet another way Trump has subverted Congressional authority, and that the funds could be better spent on, say, disaster relief for military personnel. “Once again, the Department of Defense has ignored decades of precedent and cooperation with the Congress in carrying out a transfer of funds without regard to any consultation with the Appropriations Committee,” a team of Democratic senators including Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, and Jack Reed wrote in a letter to Shanahan on Friday. “We are dismayed that the Department has chosen to prioritize a political campaign promise over the disaster relief needs of our service members, given the finite reprogramming authority available.”
The dispute comes as the White House redoubles its efforts to make good on the president’s signature campaign promise. Trump failed to make headway on the wall during his first two years in office, and tensions increased when Democrats took over the House, leading to a historic government shutdown over funding. When that failed to produce the cash he wanted, the president employed the nuclear option, even as he publicly undermined his own claim of an emergency at the border. Since then the administration has repeatedly sought money from the Pentagon, looking to delay more than $10 billion in military construction projects, and diverting $1 billion in March to the border project. The administration has previously floated siphoning resources set aside to address natural disasters—including in hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico—to pay for the wall.
Perhaps anticipating the backlash, the administration told the Post that the $1.5 billion in funding is being redirected from “cost savings, programmatic changes and revised requirements” at the Pentagon. Still, the hypocrisy is hard to miss, as is the fact that Trump is once again thumbing his nose at Congress’ role in governance. “We look forward to hearing your views on how you intend to repair the damaged relationship between the defense oversight committees and the Department,” Democrats wrote in their letter to Shanahan.
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