The Pentagon is planning to tap $1 billion in leftover funds from military pay and pension accounts to help President Donald Trump pay for his long-sought border wall, a top Senate Democrat claimed.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin told The Associated Press: 'It's coming out of military pay and pensions. $1 billion. That's the plan.'
Durbin said the funds are available because Army recruitment is down and a voluntary early military retirement program is being underutilized.
The development comes as Pentagon officials are seeking to minimize the amount of wall money that would come from military construction projects that are so cherished by lawmakers.
The Pentagon is planning to tap $1 billion in leftover funds from military pay and pension accounts to help Donald Trump pay for his border wall, Democrat Senator Dick Durbin (pictured) said
Durbin said: 'Imagine the Democrats making that proposal - that for whatever our project is, we're going to cut military pay and pensions.'
Durbin, the top Democrat on the Appropriations panel for the Pentagon, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who met with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday morning.
The Pentagon is planning to transfer money from various accounts into a fund dedicated to drug interdiction, with the money then slated to be redirected for border barriers and other purposes.
More attention has been paid to Trump's declaration of a national emergency to tap up to $3.6 billion from military construction projects to pay for the wall.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats denied the president's last request for border wall money
Pentagon officials are seeking to minimize the amount of wall money that would come from military construction projects that are so cherished by lawmakers for Trump's border wall
The Democratic-controlled House voted last month to reject Trump's move, and the GOP-held Senate is likely to follow suit next week despite a White House lobbying push.
The Army missed its recruiting goal this year, falling short by about 6,500 soldiers, despite pouring an extra $200 million into bonuses and approving some additional waivers for bad conduct or health issues.
Congress also appropriated money to give members of the military incentive to take early retirement, but enrollment in the program is coming in well under expectations.
'This is pay that would have gone to Army recruits that we can't recruit,' Durbin said.
'So there's a 'savings' because we can't recruit. The other part was they offered a voluntary change in military pensions, and they overestimated how many people would sign up for it.'
Meanwhile on Monday, President Donald Trump on Monday will ask Congress to give him $8.6 billion to build his border wall, setting up another clash with Democrats over his signature campaign promise.
The president's demand is more than six times what Congress allocated for border projects in each of the past two fiscal years, and 6 percent more than Trump has corralled by invoking emergency powers this year.
And it's in addition to the roughly $6.5 billion the president said he would redirect under emergency powers after Democrats denied his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall.
The $8.6 billion request is part of the president's 2020 budget, which will land on Capitol Hill on Monday.
Senators are increasingly uneasy ahead of voting this week because they don't know exactly where the money to build the wall will come from and if it will postpone military projects in their home states.
White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on 'Fox News Sunday' the president will demand funds for his border wall although he did not get into specifics.
'I suppose there will be. I would just say that the whole issue of the wall, of border security, is of paramount importance. We have a crisis down there. I think the president has made that case very effectively,' he said.
'He's going to stay with his wall, and he's going to stay with the border security theme,' Kudlow noted of the president. 'I think it's essential.'
One senior administration official told The Washington Post the $8.6 billion in the budget request, combined with the funds Trump wants to redirect with through his national emergency declaration, would allow the White House to complete at least 722 miles of new barriers, which has been Trump's goal.
The president's demand for funds for his barrier comes on the heels of a five-week partial government shutdown, the longest in American history, where Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi battled over border money.
Trump wanted $5.7 billion to build his border wall while Democrats offered $1.375 billion for border measures.
The clash resulted in a delayed State of the Union address, Trump canceling Pelosi's government flight for a visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and bitter back-and-forths over the border.
The final compromise bill offered $1.37 billion in funds to existing forms of border barrier and did not fully fund the president's wall request.
It limited funds to 'operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the [2017 funding law] such as currently deployed steel bollard designs, that prioritize agent safety.'
It was Democrats that emerged triumphant from that clash and their control of the House makes it highly unlikely the president will receive the money he is asking for in his 2020 budget.
White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on 'Fox News Sunday' the president will demand funds for his border wall
Trump's move shows he intends to keep the battle for his border wall alive as the 2020 election heats up
But after the government funding was settled in February, President Trump then announced a national emergency that would allow him to spend $8 billion to build his wall.
His move has already been challenged in court with a coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California suing Trump and top members of his administration in an attempt to block his emergency declaration.
Additionally the House passed a resolution denying President Trump emergency powers to build his border wall and it's now in the Senate, where enough Republican senators have expressed support for it that it could pass the upper chamber.
Trump has vowed to veto it should it come to his desk and neither chamber has the three-fourth majority required to override the president.
Several Republican senators took issue with how the president made his move, arguing Trump violated the line that separated the powers of the executive and legislative branches when he declared a national emergency.
Trump's budget request shows he plans to keep the border wall issue alive as the 2020 presidential campaign heats up.
Although the president's budget request lands on Monday, there is still time to negotiate.
Funding legislation needs to be passed before Oct. 1 - the start of the 2020 federal fiscal year - or the government could shut down again.
Link hienalouca.comhttps://hienalouca.com/2019/03/11/pentagon-may-use-1-billion-in-leftover-funds-from-military-pay-to-pay-for-border-wall/
Main photo article The Pentagon is planning to tap $1 billion in leftover funds from military pay and pension accounts to help President Donald Trump pay for his long-sought border wall, a top Senate Democrat claimed.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin told The Associated Press: ‘It’s coming out of military...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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