The Department of Defense has provided Congress with the list of military projects that could potentially be robbed to build Trump's border wall under his emergency declaration. Defense had come under criticism from lawmakers for refusing to provide the list prior to last week's Senate vote to end that declaration. Democrats are now hoping that seeing their own states programs on the chopping block will convince enough Republicans to vote with them to overturn Trump's veto of that bill.
The list has a total $12.9 billion in "unobligated" projects, where construction contracts haven't yet been awarded but the funds have been appropriated. If acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan "determine[s] that construction along the southwest border is necessary to aid the mission of military personnel supporting the Department of Homeland Security, some projects within this pool may be used to fund up to $3.6B in barrier construction," said Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, a spokesman for the Pentagon. Buccino said that no military housing projects, including barracks or dorms, are on the cut list, and that only projects that have award dates after September 30 are included.
That still makes for a huge list, basically everything not-housing and that's not making Democratic lawmakers happy. "Today's submission is just a list that tells Congress what projects it already approved, and is nothing more than another stall tactic designed to delay the political consequences of President Trump's emergency declaration," Evan Hollander, a spokesperson for Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, told CNN.
The Pentagon says that almost everything on the potential chopping block, but refuses to say exactly what projects it might axe. That sure seems like a strategy designed to keep Republicans on board with Trump by keeping them in the dark. It also means that it doesn't want to show its hand. It could be selecting projects in the home states of the lawmakers who voted against Trump, but doesn't want to show that until after the override votes.