Trump to divert $3.8B from Defense to build stupid Mexico wall

Xeni Jardin

10:06 am Thu, Feb 13, 2020

White House plans to divert $3.8 billion from DoD to build Trump’s long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, for which he lied that Mexico would pay

“Trump is preparing to divert $3.8 Billion in total from programs across the Department of Defense,” tweeted Foreign Policy reporter Lara Seligman today, “including a controversial war account used to fund emergency requirements, as well as the procurement of ships, aircraft and Army vehicles, to build the wall.”

An excerpt from her scoop for FP:

For the second year in a row, Trump will raid the Department of Defense’s coffers for money for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, dipping into funds earmarked for counterdrug activities and military construction. But this year, a significant chunk of those dollars will be funneled from a controversial war, according to a Feb. 13 reprogramming action signed by acting Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker obtained by Foreign Policy.
The account, the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, was established after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to fund emergency requirements. It has been criticized as a “slush fund” used to circumvent mandatory spending limits set by Congress.
As it did last year, the White House is planning to transfer funds from elsewhere in the Pentagon’s budget into the counterdrug account. From there, the White House has argued it can legally transfer that money to build additional miles of the wall under U.S. Code Section 284 (b).
In total, the department plans to divert $1.6 billion from the Overseas Contingency Operations account to the counterdrug account, according to the reprogramming. The money was intended for procurement of C-130J airlift aircraft and MQ-9 unmanned aerial systems, as well as National Guard and Reserve equipment.