Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Pentagon resuscitates 22 defunded projects
Money sent to border wall replaced
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to use Pentagon money to pay for the border wall created problems on the campaign trail for Republican senators seeking reelection in states that lost military construction projects to the president’s effort.
However, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced in April that funding would be restored to 22 of the 34 construction projects at domestic military bases that were defunded last year. In a memo, Esper indicated that the Pentagon would obtain the $545.5 million needed to revive the projects by diverting funds from projects overseas.
Some of the revived projects are in states with two Democrats representing them in the Senate. But others are hot-button projects in states such as North Carolina, Colorado and Arizona, where Republican senators in competitive races had been taking heat over their defunding.
In a statement, the Defense Department said it undertook a “thorough, logical, and non-political process to determine which deferred
military construction projects were executable in calendar year 2020,” and that those projects were funded.
“This process obviously did not consider, nor was influenced by, the political affiliation of Members of Congress in whose district or state these projects reside,” the department said.
After failing to obtain sufficient funds from Congress, Trump reallocated money from the Pentagon budget without congressional approval. To do so, he declared a national emergency and also relied on a counternarcotics law that allows the Defense Department to pay for fencing in drug-smuggling corridors.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in June that it was illegal for Trump to take at least some of the money from the Pentagon, because the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Still, border barrier construction using the funds has continued, with 275 miles finished as of August.
When the Senate voted on the emergency declaration for the second time last September, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched a digital ad campaign targeting Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona, John Cornyn of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, all of whom voted to uphold the declaration despite having military construction projects slated to lose funding in their states.
Since then, the Pentagon has restored funding for two of the three live projects at military bases in North Carolina and for the only one affected in Colorado.
The Defense Department didn’t restore funding for all the projects in states with critical Senate races.
Funding wasn’t restored for one of the big projects in North Carolina, a $25.7 million complex for the Marine Corps 2nd Radio Battalion at Camp Lejeune. The only project affected in South Carolina, a new $10.75 million fire station at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, and two projects worth $38.5 million in Texas also didn’t see their funds replaced.
Most of the approximately $3.6 billion in defunded construction projects remains frozen, including a slew in Europe that former President Barack Obama authorized to build up NATO defenses against Russia and the restoration of a National Guard base destroyed by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
In North Carolina, the Pentagon initially defunded $80.3 million worth of approved construction projects at military installations to pay for the wall, though one of the projects, a $32.9 million replacement of an elementary school at Fort Bragg, had already been slated for cancellation.
The Pentagon restored funding for two of the projects in North Carolina — an ambulatory care center addition at Camp Lejeune and a storage facility at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base — but funding for the 2nd Radio Battalion project at Camp Lejeune wasn’t replenished.
The Defense Department restored funding for the Colorado space control facility in April.
In Kentucky, McConnell’s home state, a middle school at Fort Campbell that had been defunded is now going forward.
In Arizona, the Defense Department restored funding for a new vehicle maintenance facility at Fort Huachuca, which is replacing a building the Army has said was jeopardizing the safety of personnel.
In Alaska, the Pentagon restored funding for a $19 million combat arms range at Eielson Air Force Base.