Congressional military veterans call Trump’s wall cash grab an insult to military families – By Gabe Ortiz (Daily Kos) / Sept 16 2019
The Trump administration’s move to pillage congressionally approved funding from military projects to pay for his stupid and racist border wall is “an insult to our service members and their families,” Rep. Gil Cisneros of California and Rep. Anthony Brown of Maryland, both U.S. military veterans, write in an op-ed. “Rather than keeping us safe, his decision endangers our national security and the lives of our service members and their families.”
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Mark Esper informed members of Congress that Donald Trump intended to usurp their authority and grab cash from more than 120 military projects to fund the stupid and racist wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for. “In diverting this money by spuriously claiming emergency powers,” Brown and Cisneros say, “Trump is circumventing Congress’ constitutional authority to decide spending and undermining the relationship between Congress and the Department of Defense.”
“Many of the 127 projects the president canceled would have improved the quality of life at work or home for military service members and their families,” they continue. “These include bases that military families call home. To them these installations are communities, each with their own schools, hospitals and grocery stores. Just as any of us would be outraged by crumbling classrooms, dilapidated clinics and decades-old facilities in our own neighborhoods, we should be even more incensed when the president condemns our service members and their families to such conditions.”
Even Trump’s allies recognize what’s happening here, because Moscow Mitch—er, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—scrambled to save his own butt amid reports that his state was losing out on tens of millions in funds. “But McConnell is in a particular bind after backing Trump’s national emergency declaration so he could raid military coffers to build his wall,” Daily Kos’ Kerry Eleveld writes. “Earlier this year, McConnell had touted his own power in an op-ed, bragging about the home-state projects for which he had brought home the bacon.”
But others losing out on their funding is of no concern to Mitch. Brown and Cisneros note that the child care center at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland was “constructed during World War II and now is too small to serve the number on children on base. It suffers from sewage backups, mold and rodent infestation, a leaking roof, and failing heating and AC systems.” It was scheduled to be replaced with a new, larger facility to better serve kids, but that was cancelled to pay for the stupid and racist border wall.
