Pentagon restores some construction projects diverted for border wall, but not all
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has directed the Pentagon to restore $545.5 million to some U.S. military bases for construction projects after the funds were diverted to pay for the border wall that has been a priority for President Donald Trump, according to a new memo obtained by McClatchy.
The memo from Esper to acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker directs that funds be restored to 22 of the 34 domestic military base construction projects that had been affected.
Esper had decided last September to divert construction project funding, that had been passed by Congress, in order to provide $3.6 billion the Pentagon was redirecting for building a wall at the border with Mexico.
“I direct you to release funding associated with 22 currently deferred projects within the United States totaling $545.526 million,” Esper wrote McCusker in the memo dated April 27. The memo was first reported by Politico.
That money for the wall will instead come from funding cuts to overseas bases, Esper said, to continue to meet the needs established by the president’s declaration of a national emergency at the border.
“I previously determined that 11 military construction projects along the international border with Mexico are necessary to support the use of the Armed Forces in connection with the national emergency,” Esper wrote.
There was not an explanation as to why certain projects were restored and others were not, and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Almost $63 million for a new schoolhouse at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, which is represented by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, was restored.
However $88 million for pier maintenance at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington state, represented by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat, was not restored.
North Carolina will see funding for two of its four projects restored, according to the memo. About $15.3 million for an ambulatory care center at Camp Lejeune and $6.4 million for a KC-46 tanker aircraft hangar at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base were restored. However, $33 million for an elementary school at Fort Bragg, and $26 million for a battalion complex at Camp Lejeune were not.
In South Carolina, $10.75 million for a new fire station at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort was not restored.
The decision to divert funds from the projects was announced last September by former acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and was criticized by Congress. Lawmakers from both parties challenged whether the Defense Department had the authority to reprogram money already authorized by Congress and use it for other priorities.
Smith said $2 billion of the funds the administration redirected last year for the border wall still have not been spent.
“It is clear no matter how many billions President Trump steals for his vanity wall on the southern border it will never be enough,” Smith said in a statement. “Rather than moving these funds back to the military construction projects they were originally intended for, the administration continues to find ways to adversely impact projects that support military readiness and deterrence in Europe.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Pentagon restores some construction projects diverted for border wall, but not all."
