WASHINGTON, Feb 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Acting Defense Secretary Patrick
Shanahan said Saturday that no decision has been taken on funding President
Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico, a project that may come partly from
redirected military funds.
Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to address what he called an
“invasion” of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over
the US border with Mexico.
The declaration means he would be able to sidestep Congress to access
federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for building the border wall. The
move however was immediatly challenged in court.
“So very deliberately, we have not made any decisions. … There has been
no determination by me,” Shanahan said on the way home from Germany.
Trump wanted Congress to authorize $5.7 billion for a wall along parts of
the border, but lawmakers provided just $1.375 billion for barriers, not a
solid concrete wall.
The White House said Friday that Trump will access $6.1 billion from two
Pentagon sources: $3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and $2.5
billion from Defense Department counter-drug activity funds.
“We always anticipated that this would create a lot of attention and since
money potentially could be redirected, you can imagine the concerns this
generates,” Shanahan said.
The Pentagon chief said he would “review that analysis now that the
emergency has been declared. Based on that analysis, we can do an assessment
of what would be appropriate.”
He added: “We are following the law. We are using the rules. We are not
bending the rules.”
As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall.